An important part of the documentation required is the completed Incapacitated Minor form signed by our physician. Since I did not have that form I searched until I found a link where it could be downloaded. The URL was clearly printed with the usual assemblage of characters followed by a space and CoverRequestedChild.pdf, with the entire URL underlined. I tried to access the form, alternately typing it with the space, without the space, with the underline, and without the underline. I checked and double checked, always looking for my customary typing errors, always going to a non-existing site notification. At last I called the help number listed. This is where the fun began.

I was delighted to receive a courteous, encouraging female voice, eager to answer any questions I might have.

“I am unable to access the CoverRequestChild.pdf.”

“Did you enter the URL listed?”

“Yes I did.”

“And what did you see?”

“The indication that there was no such page.”

“I don’t understand.”

At this point, I asked if I should insert the space or the underline and she informed me that she would need to ask her supervisor and would I please hold. I held. Some time later she returned to the phone, stating “The space should be an underscore and there is no underline. You know, a lot of people have asked about that.”

While I had this friendly person I decided to ask a couple of other questions.  I told her that I have a letter from the insurance company stating “William will be continued as a dependent on your Family Type certificate until he marries or ceases to be incapacitated (capable of earning a living).” I wondered if that would serve the purpose.

“Please hold while I ask my supervisor.” I held. “No, that is no longer acceptable.”

Another question: “I have a letter from our physician dated 2007 stating in part “William has Down syndrome, a condition present at birth. This is a lifelong condition which will render him unable to support himself.”

“Please hold while I ask my supervisor.” I held. “No, that is not recent enough.”

Actually I do have another question: Is it possible that someone thought Billy would no longer have Down syndrome after three years?

Now I will get the physician’s affidavit, fill out the forms, and try to get all of it in by October 15. I’m glad I have that much time to complete the process.

Does anyone else have this much trouble filling out forms?

Margaret, Embry and Mama at the Beach

Jane has graciously asked me to share with her readers how my family is caring for my older sister, Margaret, who has Down syndrome. It’s one of the most common questions that people ask me when I go to speak to parent groups and seminars: “What will happen to your sister when your mother dies?”

To be honest, it’s a fair question. My mother is 91 years old, so folks wonder, how could she possibly still take care of an adult child with Down syndrome? And the answer is, it’s now a group effort.

Our father died in 1983, and since then, our mother has been Margaret’s confidante,  caretaker, and as always, her lifelong advocate. Even when my father was alive, Mama was the one who took care of things; especially where Margaret was concerned. She continued to drive into her late eighties, and took care of all the household duties and bills. She drove Margaret to all of her social events, to the grocery store, to church, and even on short trips. People are always amazed when they meet her, marveling at how active, funny and engaging she is at 91 – she is truly an amazing person!

But, things have changed around their house now. Mama knew she needed to stop driving, especially at night, and the household chores were starting to overwhelm her. I called one night at around 8:30, and they were just sitting down to supper. When I asked Mama why they were eating so late, her response was, “I don’t know, I just couldn’t get it together.” I knew it was time to get her some help.

My brother and I talked, and decided that we needed to find someone who could help out on a daily basis with cooking, cleaning and driving Mama and Margaret to their activities and appointments. We were blessed to have a friend recommend someone, and now we have two wonderful ladies who share the duties. Brenda comes every morning, drives Margaret to her activities with the recreation department, and then comes back to the house where she cleans, fixes lunch, does laundry and takes Mama to the grocery store, the bank, or wherever she needs to go. Since Brenda already had a job in the evenings (taking care of another elderly person), we needed to find someone else who could work a few hours every night. Brenda knew of someone in her church that was retired and looking for a part-time job, so she recommended Marion, and she comes in Monday through Friday from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. She makes dinner, cleans the kitchen, and takes care of anything that needs doing before they go to bed.

Mama and Margaret are still able to manage things at night, and on the weekends, as I usually go over on Sundays to spend the day with them and take care of the bills. I know there will come a time when they will need full-time, seven day a week help, but for now, our set-up works just fine.

I realize that I still haven’t answered the question of what will happen to Margaret when my mother is gone, and the truth is, we don’t have “a plan” in place. My mother and I have discussed it, but it’s difficult for her to talk about. I don’t think my mother ever considered that Margaret might outlive her. She feels responsible for Margaret, and doesn’t want my brother or me to “have to worry with it.” I have tried to assure her that this is no burden for me, and that I am honored to take care of Margaret; I only hope I can do as good a job as my mother has.

Two years ago, we set up a Special Needs trust for Margaret, so that any assets she has will be protected and not cause her to lose her government benefits. We also established guardianship so that I will become her legal guardian once my mother is no longer living.

What I hope for is that Margaret is able to continue to live in her home (which will go into the trust once my mother has passed on), and we will have wonderful people like Brenda and Marion to help out. Since I will be Margaret’s legal guardian upon my mother’s death, those decisions will be left up to me. My plan is, first and foremost, to do what’s best for Margaret, and to make sure that she continues to lead a happy and fulfilled life.

While there are a number of alternate living situations which we will explore, there is still a need for residential placement for some persons, and for many this is a good solution. Let me give you an example.

Frances lives at Annandale Village near Atlanta Georgia. Her mother, a widow, lives about an hour away. Frances has an intellectual disability and requires close supervision. Her mother realizes that this will be a lifelong condition for Frances, and she wants to be sure that her daughter will have a good life even after her mother dies. They investigated a number of living situations and found that Annandale would meet their needs.

The slogan for Annandale is: “Their community..with our help.” The residents (referred to as “villagers”) form a family-like community engaged in work and play in a safe, sheltered home. Begun in 1969 with 8 residents and a staff of 4, it now has 95 villagers with a staff  of 88, with 15 residents in a special care unit and 15 in day care. The community is comprised of 10 residences, with choices of private apartments, semi-individual apartments, cottages and a 24 hour special care facility.

Annandale has 3 program tracts, based on individual needs. The programs include vocational opportunities, both on campus and in outside business organizations. The villagers market art work, have regular exercise and activities, and cultural opportunities in the area.

Frances visits her mother from time to time, but calls Annandale home. Her mother also visits Frances and has the peace of mind in knowing that she will have that home as long as she lives. You can see pictures of Annandale on their web site: www.Annandale Village.com.

There are a number of good residential facilities throughout the states. I don’t know the cost of the care but feel sure that this is a good solution for some families.

In future blogs we will discover how other families and agencies provide independent living for persons with developmental disabilities.

Let us know what you think and share your discoveries.

Jane and Billy Schulz heard good news about Rosa's Law.

U. S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski from Maryland announced that her bill introduced to eliminate the terms “mental retardation” and “mentally retarded” from federal education,  health and labor laws passed the Senate on Thursday night by unanimous consent.

This is big!

For months people have been blogging, emailing, and twittering about the misuse of the “R” word. If you would like the background and my response to this effort, you may look at my earlier blog on the “R” word.

Called “Rosa’s Law,” the bill changes the phrase “mentally retarded” to “an individual with an intellectual disability” in health,  education and labor law. Senator Mike Enzi, a co-sponsor of the bill, states that “The bill is simple in nature but profound in what it will do when it is enacted. For far too long we have used hurtful words like ‘mental retardation’ or ‘ MR’ in our federal statutes to refer to those living with intellectual disabilities. While the way people feel is important, the way people are treated is equally important. Rosa’s Law will make a greatly-needed change that should have been made well before today – and it will encourage us to treat people the way they would like to be treated.”

The passage of this law does not guarantee that people will cease to use pejorative terms to describe those who have disabilities, but it is a start. Local and federal agencies will be required to use the new term, as will school personnel. I remember, as a special educator, having to inform parents that their child had been identified as having mental retardation; I also remember their reactions. I hope that this new term will be kinder and more readily accepted. However, there will always be a need to insure that children with disabilities of any kind are treated with respect, regardless of the label used.

I think the most important aspect of this law is the way it was initiated and voted into law. The inspiration for the law came from the actions of a family whose daughter, Rosa, was diagnosed with Down syndrome and labeled retarded at school. The mother teamed up with other parents and her state delegate to introduce a bill to change the terminology in her home state law. A hearing on the implications of changing the law was held prior to consideration at the Maryland  General Assembly.

At the hearing, the testimony that had the greatest impact was given by Rosa’s 11-year-old brother. He said “What you call people is how you treat them. What you call my sister is how you will treat her. If you believe she’s ‘retarded,’ it invites taunting, stigma. It invites bullying and it also invites the slammed doors of being treated with respect and dignity.”

This story is a perfect example of effective citizen advocacy, according to Senator Mikulski. She said that this family “pulled together to pull us all to another way of thinking. They fought for the respect and dignity of a loved one. The more than 6 million people with intellectual disabilities in America deserve that same respect and dignity.”

A similar bill has been introduced in the House and has 63 co-sponsors. The law does not affect any services, rights, responsibilities or educational opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities.

There is no end to what we can accomplish when we pull together!

Do you think this law will make a difference?

Two years ago I was dismayed to learn of an event occurring in a state institution for persons with disabilities. The following article was, and is, my reaction.

Return of an Outrage

After five decades of observing, I thought it was over. I had hoped we would never again see headlines like the one dated March 27 on NPR.org: Abuse at Texas Institutions Is Beyond ‘Fight Club.’ The article described events in which staff members were charged with taking part in staging “human cockfights,” using residents with mental retardation for staff entertainment. Chronicled on a lost but retrieved cell phone, the evidence pointed to more than a year of staged late-night fights, some as recent as this past January, at the Corpus Christi institution.

My rekindled anger took me back to the 1960s, to revelations that changed my life. The first experience was made more real to me because of my son Billy, who has Down syndrome. I had just begun pursuing my goal to become a special education teacher. I wrote:

During that first summer, my class visited various facilities supposedly designed to educate children with mental retardation. A major event was the trip to Partlow, a residential institution operated by the state of Alabama. . . As a group, we walked into one expansive barn-like room, furnished with two long benches facing each other, no other furniture in the room, no curtains on the cloudy windows, and absolutely no stimulation of any kind. I stopped in the doorway, mesmerized by boys appearing to be around the age of ten or twelve, hands by their sides, staring blankly about them. This image was my nightmare for months to come, an image still present in my mind. I was so struck with the horror of “nothing to do” that I swore to myself, “That will never happen to my little boy.”

The second event occurred as I was progressing in my studies in mental retardation; I was shaken and outraged by the disclosure of conditions at Willowbrook, a Staten Island institution for children with mental retardation. Not only were children abused and living in squalor with little medical or mental health care, some of them were reportedly used as test cases for hepatitis studies. The nation as a whole was appalled when a young investigator, Geraldo Rivera, went into the institution with a hidden camera and revealed the unthinkable conditions at Willowbrook.

The Willowbrook expose was followed by a book written by Burton Blatt and Fred Kaplan, entitled Christmas in Purgatory: A Photographic Essay On Mental Retardation. As part of a research project at a Connecticut facility for persons with mental retardation, this book presented explicit photographs of residents being treated “less humanely, with less care, and under more deplorable conditions than animals.” In the Introduction, Dr. Blatt stated, “There is a hell on earth, and in America there is a special inferno. We were visitors there during Christmas, 1965.”

As a student, I felt sure that these dramatic disclosures would demand that residential institutions be carefully monitored and the persons living in them treated with dignity and kindness. The sad truth did not bear out my optimism.

When I became a professor in special education in the early 1970s, I took a group of students to visit a residential institution not far from our university. Although this was considered a model facility by many, my students and I witnessed an appalling procedure. As we were touring the grounds, we observed a fenced-in area where a large group of naked young men were being hosed off by attendants. We were appalled at the lack of dignity afforded these residents.

Almost half a century later we are still confronted with atrocities perpetrated on those persons most vulnerable in our society. Sure, in response to the article concerning abuse at the Corpus Christi institution, Texas state officials have announced steps to prevent more abuse. They intend to add supervisors to evening shifts, install security cameras in public areas at all 13 state institutions for people with intellectual disabilities, and to “continue to take swift and immediate action when abuse and neglect is reported.” But we know this does not address the real problem.

Originally placed in out-of-the way places, residential institutions were designed to protect the residents as well as the community. Such isolation seems to breed neglect and abuse that go unnoticed by citizens at large. The claim that this practice is less expensive for the state is not a valid reason for the continuation of such large, unmanageable facilities.

I have felt encouraged by the national trend leading to group homes, supervised apartments, family-supervised living, and other arrangements for people with developmental disabilities to live in communities and enjoy the rights of all citizens. In districts where this occurs, the population as a whole grows in many ways. The inclusion of persons with disabilities adds to the sense of diversity that makes us interested in each other and helps us develop sensitivity to the worth of all individuals.

The Texas incident reminds me that we must all be advocates for those less able to advocate for themselves. As advocates, we should be aware of past injustices, learn from our experiences, and be proactive in seeing that the past will not be repeated.

In future blogs we will examine alternatives to institutionalization. We will have several guest  bloggers who will describe solutions that offer favorable living situations for their family member who has a disability.

What solutions have you found or learned about? What questions or concerns do you have? Share with us!

Disability is defined by the ADA as “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity.” The four goals for public policy for people with disabilities were defined as equality of opportunity,  full participation, independent living and economic self-sufficiency. As Public Law 94 142 was designed to provide “free and equal public education” to all children, the ADA expands equal rights to people of all ages.

We have grown accustomed to interpreters for those with hearing impairments, braille instructions on elevators and designated parking areas for those with physical disabilities. However, it appears that we are falling short of the stated goals when we look at the poverty rates, unemployment and underemployment figures, and lack of access to cutting edge technologies.

President Obama marked Monday’s 20th anniversary of this landmark anti-discrimination law for people with disabilities by promising to boost government efforts at recruiting, hiring and retaining people with physical and mental limitations. The president’s White House adviser on disability policy said advances in technology make revisiting the law a necessity.

In future blogs we will look at various needs and opportunities in housing, employment, and full participation. We welcome your questions, suggestions, and comments.

Have you, or someone you know, experienced discrimination in the workplace, housing accommodations, or participation in normal activities?

I belong to the generation of parents who fought for Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (later amended to be called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA). I gladly joined other parents in pushing for this legislation and rejoicing in its passage. Although it was implemented the year that Billy graduated from high school, I knew that many other children would benefit from its mandates.

The principle of PL 94-142 that is used for the rationale for inclusion of students with disabilities into regular classrooms is referred to as Least Restrictive Environment. The mandate states that “To the maximum extent appropriate children with disabilities… are educated with children who are nondisabled…”

Thus it pained me to read the blog of a mother whose child has been denied the benefit of inclusion. Her daughter, who has Down syndrome, had a successful year in kindergarten. It was determined by the mother and the teacher that repeating kindergarten would benefit the child and the Individualized Education Plan was developed on that premise. At the meeting to plan goals for the coming school year, the mother was informed that her child would be placed in a special class for children with severe disabilities (a living skills class) and would not be engaged in any academic activities.

There is an involved process where parents can dispute the decision of the school personnel regarding placement of a child who has disabilities. This parent went through the legal process and was so disappointed and enraged with the school’s point of view that she gave up the fight and decided to home school her daughter.

Research and experience clearly demonstrate that children with disabilities learn more when included in regular classrooms, where they have normal patterns of speech, behavior, and learning to emulate. I believe in this so strongly that I am disappointed in the outcome of this particular case. To add to my dismay, 95 people have commented on this blog, mostly to applaud this mother’s decision.

I must make a plea to these parents who choose not to pursue their rights. If we do not insist on the mandates of IDEA being followed, they WILL disappear. Please, families, stay the course – insist on the best situation for your child. If the school disagrees with you, the success of your child will change their views.

There are many teachers and administrators who are diligent in insuring that children with disabilities are placed in the least restrictive environment and are receiving the services to which they are entitled. These professionals are concerned with providing the best education possible to ALL children.

I’m sure that on Billy’s file there was a stamp that read “Pushy Parent.” Believe me, if I had it to do over, I would have pushed harder. We must be proactive if we wish to secure the rights for our children to have the best education possible.

Teachers are only as successful as their students are. You are the ones who inspired me, who gave me energy, who made my career possible. I used to walk into the classroom where you were seated, knowing that most of you really wanted to be there and were excited about the experiences that were to follow. You were concerned about the children you were preparing to teach and eager to know more about them and the teaching strategies that you would employ. You were creative and industrious and brought out those qualities in me. And you did have questions: questions that sent me to inquire and to learn. You brought your problems and joys to me and I shared many of my own with you. We were family.

School administrators have long sought direction in evaluating teachers – you have been involved in many of these attempts. The truth is that teachers are successful to the degree that their students succeed and this takes a long time to evaluate. As I hear from you and know that you are good teachers I taste our mutual success.

Thank you, students, for making me look so good!

Jane and Billy Schulz, featured on the cover of Western Carolina, The Magazine of Western Carolina University

Dear Followers of my blog,

We have moved this blog from blogspot to our website for easier access and ability to interact. We’re glad to have you join us here!

We do have some exciting news! We are featured in the Western Carolina Magazine, which you can see on the website. The author of the article, Teresa Killian Tate, came to see Billy and me give a presentation at Western Carolina University in April. She was interested in our story and wrote a beautiful article, commenting on our book Grown Man Now and adding other observations. We are very grateful to her and hope you will enjoy her point of view.

One of the most exciting results of the article is the response I am receiving from some of my former students at Western. They bring back memories of my interactions and friendships with them and of their involvements with Billy. I am so grateful for those years, for those dedicated students and their evolving careers.

I hope you will join us in our journey. We cherish your friendship and your interest.

We hope to hear from you here on our blog!

Jane and Billy

PS:
We recommend that you read another of Ms. Tate’s articles in the same magazine. It’s about Special Education at WCU and it features Dr. David Westling of Western—we have enjoyed giving presentations to his classes for many years.