The author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey, was known for being a nonconformist and part of an evolving counter culture. Many of the reform movements faced throughout history and even still today were first promoted by individuals such as Kesey. The deinstitutionalization movement is no exception. The popularity and massive sales of his novel set in an insane asylum opened the public eyes to something that was very real, but kept very hush-hush.

Although Kesey never explicitly argued for reform or openly promoted deinstitutionalization, his work served as a great piece of propaganda for the movement. As the public read about a subject rarely seen or discussed by media, readers began questioning the reality of what Kesey illustrated. When reports broke that many of the unethical and immoral scenarios that Kesey wrote about were more or less the truth, the public was outraged. Ultimately, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest subtly promoted the push for reform and deinstitutionalization.