1943: I was four years old, and was delighted with my sweet baby sister.

I had no way to know that there were people who urged my mother to institutionalize her, or that there were others in the world who would have put her to death. I called her Kippy, and she’s the subject of my upcoming book, The Girl Who Talked Too Much. My mother was an activist who helped get state and local group homes and education for intellectually handicapped people like Kippy.