{"id":2256,"date":"2023-10-28T11:57:25","date_gmt":"2023-10-28T16:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mru.ink\/?p=2256"},"modified":"2023-10-28T11:57:25","modified_gmt":"2023-10-28T16:57:25","slug":"genie-wiley-the-feral-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mru.ink\/genie-wiley-the-feral-child\/","title":{"rendered":"Genie Wiley, the feral child: Abused, isolated, researched and forgotten!","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

In November 1970, a shockingly strange case of a 13-year-old American Feral Child got the attention of the Los Angeles child welfare authorities. It was Genie Wiley who was born in 1957 and became the victim of terrible child abuse, negligence and complete social isolation. In reality, “Genie” is the pseudonym of the victim, and her real name is Susan Wiley.<\/p>\n

\"Genie<\/p>\n

What Does Feral Child Mean?<\/h4>\n

There are a number of speculations and definitions of the “Feral Child<\/a>” or also known as the “Wild Child.” Generally, a “Feral Child<\/a>” is a human child who has lived isolated from human contact from a very young age, and so has had little or no experience of human care, behaviour or human language. It can be due to an accident, fate or even human abuse and cruelty.<\/p>\n

One of the earliest English-language accounts of a feral child concerns John of Li\u00e8ge<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0a boy who supposedly spent most of his youth in isolation in the Belgian wilderness.<\/p>\n

Genie Wiley the feral child<\/h4>\n
\"Genie
Genie Wiley The Feral Child<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Genie Wiley was only 20-month-old, her father Mr. Clark Wiley began to keep her locked in the basement<\/a> which was nothing less than a makeshift cage. She spent all these days in a cold dark room. Most of the time she was either strapped into a child’s toilet or bound to a crib with her arms and legs paralyzed.<\/p>\n

Throughout a long time, Genie was not allowed to interact with anyone even with her family members and relatives, and she was also isolated from any kind of incitement. The extent of her isolation prevented her from being exposed to any type of speech, as a result, she did not acquire human language and behaviours during her childhood.<\/p>\n

The saddest part is Mr. Wiley didn’t provide her proper foods and liquid. Day by day, Genie became malnourished severely. In fact, this is an example of the extreme form of human cruelty and insensitivity<\/a>. However, this strange case of “Genie Wiley, The Feral Child<\/a>” has prominently enhanced the knowledge of linguistics and abnormal child psychology.<\/p>\n

Psychologists, linguists, and a few scientists initially got the opportunity to study Genie Wiley’s case. Upon determining that Genie had not yet learned anything about the language, the linguists started to gain further insight into the processes controlling language acquisition skills and to test theories and hypotheses identifying critical periods during which humans learn to understand and use language.<\/p>\n

Their utmost efforts made the thing possible within months, she started communicating through exceptional nonverbal skills and gradually captured the basic social skills. Though she never fully acquired the first language and she still exhibited many behavioural traits and characteristics of an unsocialized person.<\/p>\n

Genie Wikey’s walk was described as a \u2018Bunny Hop\u2019<\/h5>\n