Director's Corner

This issue of Centerpoint goes to press just as Maine celebrates the closing of its only large state institution for people with developmental disabilities, Pineland Center. The closing of Pineland marks the end of an era often characterized by segregation, indignity, and oppression in the lives of individuals with developmental disabilities. Unfortunately, closing the doors of the institution will not end segregation, indignity, and oppression in the lives of people with disabilities. To avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, it is necessary that we reconsider the ways . we conceptualize supports and services for people with disabilities, regardless of where they live. This shift in thinking is reflected in many of the emerging practices in the disability field today. These practices include community inclusion, person centered planning, and, the focus of this issue of Centerpoint, positive supports for individuals with challenging behavior. These practices are all rooted in a set of principles which center on self determination, choice, respect, dignity, and human interdependence.

While the closing of Pineland provides cause for celebration, it should not allow us to lose sight of the fact that there are still institutions for people with developmental disabilities in Maine. Some are bricks and mortar, like Levinson Center, Aroostook Residential Center, and the elder and pediatric nursing homes that are scattered across the state. Other forms of institutionalization are less obvious. They include services and programs where institutional policies and procedures control the lives of the individuals who live and work within them. Whether it is determining who comes and goes through the front door, what to have for dinner, or when to go to bed, the real question is: Who is in control?

Achieving deinstitutionalization is not the same as creating community. Creating community is a positive and proactive process. Removing the institutions that we can see is a beginning. Replacing them with true community is a much more difficult task. We've begun to achieve the former, the latter is the challenge before us.

Lu Zeph

Centerpoint is the newsletter of the Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies, Maine's University Affiliated Program.

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