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| Friends, I am forwarding a letter from Bill Sellers, Director of The Arc of Washington State, which he mailed to me as editor of the DDDigest.com. I have included my response. Dear Paul, I am writing this letter not as a Director of The Arc of Washington State but as a friend and parent of a daughter with cognitive disabilities. First I want to thank you for your publication. The DDDigest is well formatted and I find the content clear and useful. I look forward to each issue. I would like to express my views relating to Friends of Fircrest and institutions in general. Any one is invited to attend the Legislative Forum. I do represent all individuals with developmental disabilities and their families in King County and Olympia and Washington, D.C. Everyone is invited to attend the monthly meetings of the King County Parent Coalition. The Andersons do and they are welcome and respected. It is time for FOF to join the Community to advocate for the needs of the residents of Fircrest. The Arc started in 1936 advocating for the establishment of Schools where individuals could receive services and training outside of the family home. We had no education mandate at that time. People with developmental disabilities had no mandated civil rights. Now we have those rights and the residents of Fircrest should not be denied their rights. While it is appropriate to congregate, the Supreme Court has ruled that individuals cannot be forced, against their wishes, to segregate . There are unmet needs in the Community and I need the FOF to join me in the advocacy for those needs. The operating costs of Fircrest, while not as much as California, are staggering. Please join us in supporting the Legacy Trust Fund legislation where the income would fund individuals on the waiting lists. The joint Position Statement of both The Arc of the United States and the American Association on Mental Retardation is clear. "Our constituents should be empowered to live in accessible and affordable housing similar to that of people without disabilities. Necessary individualized supports and adaptations should be of their choosing and under their control or the control of their substitute decision-maker. Community over Institutional Placement Large congregate facilities are unnecessary and inappropriate for our constituents, regardless of type or severity of disability. People must receive individualized supports, including housing, as they leave institutions, and public funds must be shifted from institutions to the community so our constituents can transition successfully to community life. The health and safety of people must be safeguarded wherever they live, including when a facility is closing, and whenever a person is transitioning from one living environment top another." I am asking the Friends of Fircrest to join the majority Community to help the Community Advocacy Coalition advocate and lobby King County and Olympia for the needs of all our constituents. It is harmful to continue giving legislators the old saw "there is nothing we can do until you get your act together". Attend the Community meetings with me and we will work together to make everyone's life better. Happy Holidays, Bill Sellars P.S. Please feel free to forward this letter -------------------------------- Bill, I think we can both agree that our first allegiance is to all with developmental disabilities. I believe that advocates must unite to support the needs of each citizen with a developmental disability. Divided advocacies harm the very ones we want most to help. If anyone wanted us to fail at what we do they couldn't be happier than to see the way we are fragmented. It would be far better to resolve our differences among our selves and present a united front, than divide ourselves in public. Should we ever move forward together in agreement we would finally have the strength to provide a community in which all needs are met. Suggesting that we all unite may seem naive, but it's an ideal worth talking about. Supporters of RHCs aren't going to give up the RHCs. There is good reason for this. The people who remain in the RHCs need that level of care. The ones who don't, have left. Inclusionists insist that everyone can be accommodated in the community and the money spent on RHCs would be better used for community services. Why can't we have a continuum of care that provides everyone with what is best for them, including better community services and modernized RHCs? There is no law against such a continuum. In fact, the supreme court upholds it in Olmstead. Someday my son, Eric, may leave the Morgan Center and live in a community placement. I can only hope he would get the same excellent care then, as now. Thank you for your invitation to Friends of Fircrest to join with you. I hope this is a sincere step toward mutual understanding. Thanks for reading the DD Digest. Its pages are open to your point of view. Also a friend and parent, Paul Paul Strand 4308 29th Ave SE Lacey, WA 98503 (360)493-1552 pstrand2000@comcast.net www.DDDigest.com . |