VOR Time Capsule from 1999
VOR's Jane Anthony recently unearthed a video that VOR members made 25 years ago, promoting the need for intermediate care facilities as an important component of a full continuum of care and service options. The year was 1999, right around the time that the Supreme Court submitted its historic ruling in Olmstead, promoting community integration for those who desire it, while protecting Choice for families of people who require higher levels of care.
Much has changed since then. We no longer use the "R" word to refer to our loved ones, and we have since changed our name, to VOR - A Voice of Reason, having retired our original name, Voice of the Retarded. A great many Iintermediate care facilities have closed since then, including the excellent facility at which this video was recorded, the North Virginia Training Center, which was closed in 2016.
The need for high quality care has not changed, nor has the right for parents to make informed choices about the care of their children with I/DD and autism. If anything, the need for a voice for people with severe and profound I/DD and autism is greater than ever.
