To the editor:
Great column by Taylor Armerding (March 7). He's right, attitudes need to change. Attitudes in the "disabled" community need an adjustment.
I am the guardian of my "mentally retarded" brother. He is not developmentally disabled. He is mentally retarded. He is not offended by the use of these words because he does not have the capacity to understand it. Ironic isn't it. The people the word truly applies to have no ability to be offended by it.
I am offended by the words "developmental disabilities." They water down the diagnosis. A developmental disability can be as simple as a slight speech impediment. A problem, yes; comparable to a person who is severely or profoundly mentally retarded, not even close. This name change is a step back in time. It attempts to paint everyone with a broad brush rather than recognizing people individually.
All this fuss about a word. There is a whole lot more for Craig Smith and his advocacy group to be offended by — actions. Gov. Deval Patrick has mandated the closure of intermediate care facilities (formerly institutions) for the severely and profoundly "mentally retarded."
Mr. Smith's group "Massachusetts Advocates Standing Strong" has no problem with this. They have thrown the severely retarded under the bus and have come out in support of the governor throwing these people out of their lifelong homes and forcing them into living situations they have no ability to cope with that put their lives in jeopardy. I guess they can only advocate for people who have the ability to be offended by a word, not the people who need advocacy the most.
His group, and most of the holier-than-thou do-gooders, need a bit of a history lesson. They have forgotten a lot. The reason that Mr. Smith has the opportunity to form a group and parade around the Statehouse and why there are alternatives for individuals with developmental disabilities (there's that word again) comes from the residents of these facilities.
The guardians of the aging population of these facilities (average age is 60 and time spent there is 50-plus years) are the people that had the courage to take the state to federal court back in the 1970s. That win in federal court resulted in the complete reform in the care and treatment of the mentally retarded. They fought that fight so all people with mental disabilities were treated as human beings not just inanimate objects to be locked up and warehoused behind closed doors.
A wise judge also recognized that unfortunately there would always be people who could not live out in the community, because of their level of disability, and would always need specialized care.
The intermediate care facilities were fashioned, at great taxpayer expense, to provide that specialized care and a life, not just an existence, for them. The successful techniques and treatments we have today, came at the expense of these aging people through trial and error experiments.
It's too bad Mr. Smith doesn't use his group's voice to protest the truly offensive action against the people who fought to provide him with the opportunities he now enjoys. I am offended.
Sue Surette
Tewksbury
