Burton Blatt devoted his life to highlighting the nature and conditions of human abuse. He was a teacher, scholar, author and, above all, a passionate advocate for people with intellectual disability. The papers in this collection are in 4 parts: Part 1 looks at institutional life and its impact on the people living there; Part 2 contains a selection of poems and aphorisms; Part 3 consists of excerpts from some of Blatt's writings on public policy, and Part 4 contains writings on the professions. (At the time of his death in 1985, Burton Blatt was centennial professor and dean of the School of Education at Syracuse University, USA.) Keyword: Theory