This great, heartwarming story (on the front page) explains that Perkins is the “oldest school in the United States for young people who are blind,” with both day students and resident students.
I found this wonderful story particularly fascinating because there wasn’t a single disability advocate screaming to close down Perkins and let the students “go.” It isn’t because Perkins students will eventually “graduate” because some do stay there their whole lives; as a number of the residents have developmental disabilities as well. In fact, Steve Rothstein, the President of Perkins,is a former assistant commissioner of the DMR.
So what’s up with this? Why isn’t the ARC screaming to close down Perkins? And it isn’t because Perkins’ (located in Watertown)grounds are all that different than that of Fernald, located in Waltham. How is it that there are private institutions for the disabled that go unsinged by the flame of the vendor advocates – the ARCS and the other service provider groups?.Because it’s not about philosophy…it’s about who gets the money for the services.
This link provides a listing approved special ed (day and residential programs) for the state. Note all that residential programs!
http://www.doe.mass.edu/pqa/sp…
And let’s look at Devereaux:
http://www.devereux.org/site/P…
We provide highly-individualized, strength-based treatment and education within a supportive, multi-disciplinary continuum of care.
This sounds like…centralized service delivery…just like what’s offered at Fernald. Hmmm. And why isn’t the ARC screaming about closure? Likely because it’s another private service provider!!!
And if you have a thick wallet or are politically wired – your loved one with DD can reside here:
http://www.beverlyfarm.org/?gc…
Friends…the “philosophy” is not about getting people with disabilities into the community. It’s not. It’s about getting lucrative state service contracts to service providers and calling it a “community first” philosophy. It’s a union-busting, privatization effort…that’s all this is. The residents at our state operated facilities have enjoyed safe consistent care, and the service providers want their slice of the pie.
My stories about Framingham State College have been documented. In April, the Perkins school was having about 20 students visit the college. The “new” disability services director sent a request to the MetroWest Center For Independent Living (MWCIL) for a translation of a tour pamphlet into braille. The notice given was 20 hours. The “new” director had known about the Perkins visit a month ahead of time. For those of you who don’t know, that’s an impossible request. Yeah, please tell me about equality some more. My apology for sounding like me again. This is the nicest language I could phrase it.
By way of disclosure, I’m commenting on behalf of The Fernald League for the Retarded, Inc.
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p>I happened to go to the Perkins School in October 2006 to listen to then gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick and Senator John Kerry take questions from disability rights advocates. At the time, I was writing newsletters for the Coalition of Families and Advocates for the Mentally Retarded (COFAR). We were trying, unsuccessfully at the time, to learn what Patrick’s position was on the DMR facilities.
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p>I remember that the Perkins campus seemed quite large and there were many nice buildings on it, including the large hall in which the Patrick rally was held. As you say, I’ve never heard anyone advocate shutting the school down as a way of saving state funds. Yet four DMR facilities have now been targeted for closure, supposedly for just that reason.
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p>As of January 2007, when Patrick became governor, we still hadn’t gotten anything from him on his position about the DMR facilities. Yet, I went on to write a hopeful headline in The January 2007 COFAR Voice newsletter, which included a photo of the Patrick rally at the Perkins School. The headline was “‘Brighter day’ seen for disabled under Patrick.” It was the most mistaken headline I’ve ever written.