Friday, January 03, 2020

William Bronston, "The Shape of a Marathon," 1979

https://blogs.uoregon.edu/autismhistoryproject/about-the-project/


https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.uoregon.edu/dist/d/16656/files/2018/11/Bronston-Shape-of-a-Marathon-1jh


William Bronston, “The Shape of a Marathon,” 1979, Carton 11, Folder 18, William Bronston Papers, [BANC MSS 2002/227 c]. Courtesy of The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Complete original source available here.

William Bronston was a physician and activist whose career reflected the rise of disability rights consciousness in the 1960s and 1970s, especially as it applied to children and adults with developmental disabilities. Bronston worked for several years at Willowbrook State School in Staten Island, New York, a massive residential institution that housed thousands of developmentally disabled children. In 1972, parents filed a class action lawsuit against the state because of the school’s deplorable conditions, which included overcrowding and physical abuse. Willowbrook became a national rallying cry for deinstitutionalization and a symbol of all that was wrong with segregated institutions. An agreement was reached in 1975 to move Willowbrook children into community placements but the school wasn’t finally shuttered until 1987.

Born and educated in Los Angeles, Bronston returned to California in 1975. He first served as Medical Director of the State Department of Developmental Services and later as Medical Director in the State Department of Rehabilitation. This excerpt illustrates how significant normalization was for professionals like Bronston. He described it as the state’s official philosophy when it came to shaping the lives of developmentally disabled children in the 1970s and beyond.


 Normalization
There officially exists in California a philosophy of services that is based deeply in values. It submits that in order to grow, each person deserves:
  • love, honor and freedom from stigma throughout life
  • celebration of being special
  • a life-sharing family, home and nurturing support
  • a community of concern and friendship
  • economic security, health and the full benefit of modern technology with a varied continuum of services
  • freedom from the threat of injury due to pollution of food, air, water, and the earth on which we dwell
  • the opportunity to grow, learn, choose, work, rest, play, be nourished, to experience well-being
  • solitude when needed
  • comfort and beauty in which to discover him/herself
  • the power to improve his/her environment
  • justice
  • the dignity of risk, joy and growth of spirit
  • a valid social future.
Such philosophy sums up many of the deepest held beliefs about quality of life. These beliefs are at the root of our current and emerging civil rights and human services laws and standards.
How any of us, as human beings, are perceived decides how we are treated in society…. Normalization in theory and operation offers a standard of minimum acceptability on which human services must be conceived, planned, provided, and judged.
Normalization advocates the use of means which are culturally normative in order to offer a person life conditions at least as good as those of the average citizen and, as much as possible, to enhance and support personal behaviors, appearance, experience, status, and reputation to the greatest degree possible….
Normalization insists upon accentuating the positive and eliminating the negative by doing everything possible to integrate people who have special needs into everyday lives so that they may enjoy all we value for ourselves.
Normalization dictates use of the least restrictive or drastic means to help people grow and change to avoid stifling personal liberty….
How do we assure not only that we do no harm, but that we uplift the persons we serve in the eyes of their fellow citizens?….
The idea [of normalization], like a dandelion seed carried on the wind, spread to consumers, planners, teachers, service providers, advocates and researchers alike. If we do our job well, we may at least derive the following service benefits or actions:
  • Institution placements prevented
  • Persons returned from institutions
  • Emotional breakdowns prevented
  • Family breakup averted
  • Loneliness dispelled
  • Health preserved or restored
  • Services or social participation enhanced
  • Proper treatment provided
  • Persons habilitated
  • Dollars saved
  • Personnel needs reduced
  • Justice rendered or preserved.
We are still in the first mile, a mere decade, into a marathon that will stretch on and on towards the excellence of attainment and fulfillment….
It is meant to be a small commitment to common humanity and respect for every human being.
-->u2dv.pdf

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