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Fixing the Community First

The following was written for The Digest (Winter 2000) by Timothy Meeker, Past President of the Association of Public Developmental Disabilities Administrators (APDDA) and retired Executive Director of Sonoma Developmental Center (Eldridge, California).

Dr. Meeker asks deinstitutionalization advocates to take pause, consider what they want to accomplish, and compare that to what they are accomplishing. If independence and enhanced opportunity is the goal of eliminating large residential options for people with mental retardation, then ensuring the preparedness of the community must be a prerequisite.

   Timothy Meeker’s statement follows:

“As to our field, we have individually and collectively seen and/or are living through the national effort to close institutions. We have also been under siege by the Federal Department of Justice (DOJ), Federal Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) [now called Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)], Protection and Advocacy, Inc. (PAI), and others who believe we should not exist.

“At times it has seemed that we were living in the days of the Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials or the McCarthy Hearings. People advocating for our demise frequently approach their goal with the same zeal as those above did.

“I am not going to get into the rightness or wrongness, morality or immorality of the debate. I know that throughout history, substantial change has only occurred through revolutionary, not evolutionary means. I would like to make some personal observations, however, about how I believe the focus has often been misplaced.

“The advocacy interests have focused on the closure of institutions rather than on building a strong community. Dick Lepore was my boss here in California for awhile and I will always remember the most powerful thing he said to me: ‘It’s not about closing institutions. When the community system is strong enough, the need for institutions will decrease naturally’ (emphasis added).

“Too many advocates, legislatures and administrators have not heard that message and continue to put the cart before the horse, i.e., close institutions first and strengthen the community later. There seems to be no indication that this will change in the near future but one can always hope.”

VOR remains resolved to OPPOSE total deinstitutionalization.

VOR remains resolved to SUPPORT the

expansion and improvement of community-based programs.

VOR holds paramount the individual needs of each person with mental retardation and, therefore, supports a full spectrum of living choices to best meet those needs in a safe, effective, cost efficient manner.

VOR * 836 S. Arlington Heights Rd., #351 * Elk Grove Village, Illinois * 60007

877-399-4VOR ph. * 847-258-5273 fax * tamie327@hotmail.com