Sally's parents get after her because she has, on occasion, wet her bed. Not only is she doing poorly in school, but now she has wet the bed. She is told she should be ashamed of herself. She is a bad girl. Her parents take her to the doctor to find out why she is wetting the bed, but the doctor can find no medical reason. Her parents ask her what is wrong.

Sally finally finds the words to tell them what Uncle has done. She is told that she really is a bad girl for saying such awful things. Just as Uncle said she would be, she is punished. She is also told to never speak like that again.

A pattern develops in Sally's life as she gets older. There are few periods in her life when someone is not abusing her. Finally, at a very young age, she becomes pregnant. She moves in with the child's father, but they soon separate. Since then, she has had many relationships in her life. None of them were really any good. She feels that all men are the same. They are all rotten.

Sally is now in her 30s and has children. She lives on welfare because she has no education and can't get a job that will support her and her family. Her children sometimes are too much for her and she doesn't know how she will cope. She has asked Child and Family Services for help, but she feels all they want to do is tell her how she should act and what she should do.

She doesn't feel they have helped her cope with the children. She finally decides that if she can only get an education, she would be okay. She goes into the community to find some place where she can go to school.

Sally's experience before she comes to academic upgrading is a composite experience. It could be all of the women in the group. What happens to the women as they progress through the group, however, is unique. Each woman experiences personal and academic progress. I want to outline some of this progress, using pseudonyms and changing some of the details so the women's confidentiality is assured.

A profile: Theresa

Theresa was only able to say that she had been abused. She couldn't or wouldn't say any more. After hearing the other women tell parts of their stories and talking about the issue of abuse from a non-personal perspective, however, she was able to tell me her story for the very first time.

Theresa said that she didn't know where to start so I suggested that she treat this as a writing assignment. We followed the steps that we use in the classroom for anything that needs to be written. The only difference was that she spoke and I scribed for her. Two days later, when it was completed, she held the finished piece in her hand. She told me that she had never been able to think about it before without the feelings overwhelming her. She had never really admitted the abuse to anyone because she couldn't put it into words. She was able to write about her feelings, talk about what had happened, and ask questions.