SW 644: Issues in Developmental Disabilities Parent Advocacy, Organizations, and New Directions Part I - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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SW 644: Issues in Developmental Disabilities Parent Advocacy, Organizations, and New Directions Part I

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SW 644: Issues in Developmental Disabilities Parent Advocacy, Organizations, and New Directions Part I Lecture Presenter: Jim Hoegemeier, Executive Director, The ARC ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: SW 644: Issues in Developmental Disabilities Parent Advocacy, Organizations, and New Directions Part I


1
SW 644 Issues in Developmental
DisabilitiesParent Advocacy, Organizations, and
New Directions Part I
  • Lecture Presenter
  • Jim Hoegemeier, Executive Director, The
    ARC-Wisconsin

2
Presentation Goals
  • Review History of Developmental Disability in
    Wisconsin
  • Determine Where We are Now
  • Take a Guess as to Where Advocacy is Going
  • Determine Our Role(s) as Advocates

3
Disability Advocacy Beginnings
  • Began with the first humans.
  • Developmental disabilities are a natural part of
    the human existence.
  • Parents and other family members remain the
    primary advocates and have been so throughout
    history.

4
How Did it Begin in Wisconsin?
  • Wisconsin Became a State in 1848
  • Much institutional building for many people with
    disabilities
  • 1850 the blind
  • 1850 first state prison
  • 1854 mentally ill
  • 1857 delinquent boys
  • 1895 Establishment of the Wisconsin Home for
    the Feebleminded

5
Early Advocates
  • Parents
  • A handful of legislators Assembly Committee on
    Charitable and Benevolent Institutions
  • Wisconsin Teachers Association
  • State Board of Charities and Reform (1871)

6
State Board of Charities and Reform
  • Surveyed local jails and poorhouses
  • Appalled by conditions
  • By 1880, 152 mentally retarded people living in
    local poorhouses
  • Recommendations
  • Segregate people with mental illness
  • Place children in foster homes
  • Nothing related to mentally retarded people

7
Alternatives to Poorhouses
  • County jails
  • County insane asylums
  • Family homes
  • Efforts by Legislature to develop institutions
    for developmentally disabled stall
  • Eugenic movement got legislation on track

8
Wisconsin Home for the Feebleminded
  • Legislation finally passed in 1895
  • Home founded for the care, custody, and training
    of the feebleminded, epileptic and idiotic of
    this state under the supervision of the State
    Board of Control. Received an appropriation of
    100,000. Home located in Chippewa Falls.
  • People admitted at no charge to them county
    would pay half of the costs

9
Institutional Growth
  • Southern Wisconsin Home for the Feebleminded
    established in 1914 at Union Grove
  • Census at two homes rose from 394 in 1900 to 1060
    in 1920
  • Marriage of feebleminded prohibited by
    Legislature
  • Legislature authorizes involuntary sterilizations

10
Special Education
  • Milwaukee offered special education classrooms
    for mentally retarded children in 1906.
  • Legislature approved special education provisions
    in 1917
  • In 1920, there were 21 classes for mentally
    retarded children in 10 cities
  • Goal was to keep mentally retarded children
    from general population and ease burdens on
    teachers of regular children

11
Changes in Institutions
  • Move to place trained and safe persons under
    lifelong supervision in the community many
    released if they agreed to sterilization (by
    1939, 991 colony residents, 86 of whom were
    women, were sterilized)
  • Change name to Wisconsin Colony and Training
    School
  • Development of half-way colonies

12
State Government Reorganization
  • Citizen committee criticized system and suggested
    that many mentally retarded people, if given
    early intervention and training, could lead
    useful and self-sufficient lives in the community
  • Governor LaFollette establishes Board of Mental
    Hygiene and Board of Corrections
  • Governor Heil establishes Department of Public
    Welfare with several divisions

13
Problems with Institutions and Special Education
Positives
  • In the 1940s, the institutions were terribly
    overcrowded 2,350 people in 1945.
  • Attendants overworked. Allegations of abuse,
    neglect and manslaughter
  • More special education programs develop including
    classes for older students with special needs
  • State picks up cost of transportation and
    room/Board

14
Expanding Institutions
  • In the 1940s and 1950s, institutional building
    increased as did allegations of abuse and
    neglect. Media begins to expose conditions.
  • Central Colony established in 1953 in Madison
  • Colonies become training centers for UW Medical
    School

15
Parent Involvement
  • Group of 5 sets of parents of children at
    Southern Wisconsin Center
  • Wanted to get more toys to the center
  • Began support group
  • Pushed for training and education in the
  • Began The Wisconsin Council for Mentally Retarded
    Children in 1949 in Milwaukee quickly expanded
    to Madison and other cities.

16
Silent Progress
  • President Kennedy stresses alternatives to
    institutions
  • Brown County received federal grant to build a
    community-based service center for people with
    developmental disabilities
  • Many advocacy groups become involved in day
    services, sheltered workshops, etc.
  • Institutions still overused

17
Progress in the 1970s and 1980s
  • Community-based services explode
  • Special education act in 1974
  • First group homes
  • Respite care programs
  • Incentives for employers of people with
    developmental disabilities
  • Community Options Program and Community
    Integration Program established in early 1980s

18
Advocacy Now
  • Many parent pioneers are passing away
  • Young parents think we always had the services we
    had now
  • Push by government for community-based services
    (primarily due to financial reasons)
  • People with disabilities have much longer life
    expectancy than in the past

19
Changing Demographics
  • More people with disabilities living in community
    settings rather than institutional settings
  • More older elderly people with disabilities
  • Baby boomers include people with disabilities.

20
New Aging Challenges
  • How do we care for people with developmental
    disabilities that have Alzheimers, Parkinsons,
    etc.?
  • How do we assist aging parents that provide care
    and support for an aging child with developmental
    disabilities?
  • How do we encourage siblings to become more
    involved with their brothers/sisters with
    developmental disabilities?
  • How do we encourage families to engage in
    planning (not just financial) for a member with
    special needs?

21
New Aging Challenges (cont.)
  • Access to appropriate health care services by
    experienced health care providers
  • Increased employment/volunteer opportunities for
    people with disabilities
  • Emphasis on improving the lives of people with
    disabilities because it is the right thing to do
    and NOT necessarily because it costs less.

22
What Can We Do?
  • Talk to anyone and everyone about the progress
    made in serving people with developmental
    disabilities
  • Emphasize that we still have a long way to go in
    including people with disabilities in everyday
    life
  • Join a group any group. It could be The Arc,
    it could be an informal parents group.
    Remember, The Arc network in Wisconsin and all it
    has accomplished came about because 5 Milwaukee
    area couples got together to talk about their
    children at Southern Wisconsin Center.

23
What Can We Do?
  • Remember that we includes people with
    disabilities. We have become much stronger when
    we advocate with special needs people than when
    we just advocate for them.
  • Use technology. The internet and e-mail can help
    us stay connected with each other and have access
    to resources. More and more people with
    disabilities are online.

24
What Can We Do?
  • Vote! And remind people that how candidates
    stand on disability issues plays a large role in
    how you vote.
  • Dont give up keep pounding the drum.
  • Call advocacy groups and let them know your
    concerns, what you like, what you dont like, etc.

25
Contact Information
  • Jim Hoegemeier
  • The Arc-Wisconsin Disability Association
  • arcwjim_at_chorus.net
  • www.arc-wisconsin.org
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