Bringing our people home - Part 3Santa Barbara NewsPress
California's State-Run Institutions for People with Developmental Disabilities
Bringing our people home - Part 3
California's State-Run Institutions for People with Developmental Disabilities
Bringing our people home - Part 3
7/11/00
by Terry Boisot
In May 2000 a civil rights action was filed in federal district court known as Sanchez v. Johnson to compel California to comply with provisions in three Acts of Congress, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Rehabilitation Act, and the Social Security Act. Each of these Acts prohibits the unnecessary segregation of people with disabilities in large institutions. The lawsuit argues that wages paid to staff who support 162,000 people with developmental disabilities in communities throughout California are far lower than wages paid to staff in institutions. Indeed wages for community staff are amongst the lowest and least competitive in any sector of California's economy. This has resulted in a serious lack of community services and supports, leaving many people institutionalized.
A Plaintiff in the Sanchez case who I will identify by his first name, Scott, is a 32-year-old man with a developmental disability and has lived at the Fairview Developmental Center in Costa Mesa since he was 18 years old.
At Fairview, Scott has no opportunity to participate in community life and is not allowed to leave Fairview and go outside unless granted express permission. In January Scott dissembled a plexiglass window, climbed a fence and left the institution without permission, took a public bus to Huntington Beach, rode his bicycle along the beachfront, had lunch at the pier, and later went to a bar. Scott was punished by Fairview staff by revoking his privilege to go outside. Scott does not want to live at Fairview. He does not have the simple joys of community living that non-disabled people have, like walking down the street or eating out for lunch. His civil rights are being violated.
Orange County Superior Court ordered that Scott be moved to a community setting, but the state has not developed any community services for Scott, so he remains incarcerated.
This type of segregation from society is tolerated because of how society perceives people with disabilities. The Community Imperative, a 1979 declaration by the Center on Human Policy, Syracuse University, New York, states:
"As long as retarded people are socially, economically, and politically rejected, the institution will seem acceptable."
It is past time to abandon prejudices, to acknowledge that all people have fundamental, human and constitutional rights that must not be ignored merely because of a person's mental or physical disability.
In June, representatives from the Department of Developmental Services, Defendants in the Sanchez v. Johnson lawsuit, have proposed that the state start to plan for the closure of all five state-run institutions where 3,800 people with developmental disabilities are living. This plan will be based on principals which include: no major expenditures to renovate the developmental centers; and, each person living in a developmental center will be evaluated to determine the community supports and services that will provide for the highest quality of life.
On the other hand there is little to no commitment in the Governor's enacted budget to adequately increase wages for community staff, and $27 million is slated for developmental center improvements.
How much longer must people with disabilities living in developmental centers wait for freedom, including 121 people whose home community is within the tri-counties?
My ten-year-old son who has severe disabilities, is a welcome part of his neighborhood school and lives in a community that celebrates diversity. He is valued by his friends, a participating member of society, and is free. His strengths, aspirations and potential stand predominant in his life, not his limitations. Every morning when my son awakes with a smile in anticipation of what the day will bring, I am reminded of the pain of segregation felt by some people with disabilities whose limitations are all that others can see.
I dream of the day the words of Martin Luther King will ring in our ears - "Free at Last! Free at Last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at Last!"