Genie Wiley case highlights ethical tensions in language research and child welfare

Genie Wiley, a teenage girl who had spent more than a decade largely in isolation, emerged into public view in November 1970 when Los Angeles County welfare workers removed her from her home after a routine visit to a social services office. Staff initially believed she might be severely autistic or have an intellectual disability, noting a stooped gait, a lack of social interaction and a vocabulary that could be measured in single words. What followed was a cascade of investigations into how she had lived for years in near total silence and confinement, a case that would ignite a long-running debate in psychiatry and linguistics about the limits of human development and the ethics of treating vulnerable individuals as research subjects.

The details surrounding Genie’s childhood were harrowing. She had been tied naked to a toddler’s potty for more than a decade, kept in a dim bedroom with no natural light or sound, and fed a sparse, uniform diet that stunted her physical and cognitive growth. By adolescence, she spoke only about 20 words and exhibited little grasp of grammar. The public learned of her confinement after welfare staff observed an emaciated, mute girl with a distinctive, hesitant shuffle and a posture described as abnormal, prompting immediate removal from the Wiley home and protective custody. The rescue not only freed Genie from her isolation but also exposed a family history of abuse and coercive control that extended to her siblings. ![Genie Wiley during rehabilitation](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/12/14/17/104699167-0-image-a-11_1765732458182.jpg