Insight: July 31

This week on SBS Insight asks ‘What is it like to grow up in isolation?’

Ben Shenton was raised in a notorious Australian cult called ‘The Family’. At 18 months of age his mother handed him over to a woman called Anne Hamilton Byrne who members of the cult believed was Jesus Christ reincarnated.

Living on an isolated property 2 hours from Melbourne, Ben and the other children weren’t allowed to go beyond the property unless under very strict control, and were prevented from forming close relationships with each other. If they did, they were punished. There was physical abuse and at times the children were deprived of food and reportedly given LSD as a part of an initiation ceremony. Ben was 15-years-old when Police raided the property, removing him and placing him into a foster home where he started at mainstream school, which was extremely difficult for him.

Romey and David Atchley live four hours to their nearest town, once each year to get supplies. They live in a remote part of Alaska and only got the internet this year, admitting they struggle to keep up with current events and popular culture but that doesn’t turn them off living in such an isolated place.

Their 14-year-old son, Sky, is home-schooled, saying it doesn’t bother him that he doesn’t have much contact with children his age. Though since discovering the internet, Sky wants to become an online gaming commentator and acknowledges that this might involve him one day leaving his family home and moving to the city.

Romey’s older son left their home a couple of years ago to live in town and has found it challenging to enter main-stream society as a young adult after so long living in isolation.

Tara Westover grew up in rural Idaho, USA, with radical, survivalist parents who didn’t believe in doctors, hospitals or mainstream education.

Tara and her six siblings didn’t even have birth certificates until they were older. Kept away from people in the nearby town, they spent much of their childhood working in their father’s junkyard and when there were injuries and medical emergencies, they would be treated at home by their herbalist mother.

She grew up not knowing or learning about major events in history including the holocaust and the civil rights movement, which was challenging when, at 17-years-old, Tara decided to educate herself as a means of escape. She eventually got into university but fitting in to the outside world wasn’t easy; in addition to her academic challenges, she struggled socially. She worked through it and impressively Tara now has a PhD from Cambridge University.

Emma Gingerich was raised in an Amish family in Ohio and Missouri. She had to wear certain clothing like long skirts and bonnets to cover her hair, no electricity or running water and very little contact with the outside world.

She had no access to TV or radio and was only allowed to be schooled to grade eight. Emma’s education only included reading, writing and maths, no science or geography. When she was ill, medical treatment was administered by an Amish doctor who wasn’t properly qualified. Once when she had bad headaches, Emma had balloons stuck up her nose and inflated.

At 18-years-old she left her family and the Amish community. Emma’s transition to the outside world wasn’t easy. She experienced sexual abuse after leaving and was taken advantage of by the family she was staying with. Despite the difficulties, she doesn’t regret leaving or miss the Amish way of life.

Insight speaks to people who were raised or are being raised away from mainstream society and look at what impact it has on them later in life.

8.30pm, Tuesday on SBS.