When Fairview Training Center was slated for closure, many parents spoke with me about their feelings of betrayal.  They had placed their child in the institution many years, sometimes decades, ago.  When they made that difficult choice, they had been assured by the state that Fairview would always be there for them.  Many parents had become very involved with the institution.  They knew the staff, the management and the residents.  They were part of a community that understood what it is like to be developmentally disabled.  Their child would be permanently protected from the ignorance, disinterest and, sometimes, hostility of the outside world.

The process of closing Fairview was slow and painstaking.  Highly detailed assessment and planning was completed for each resident.  Parents were introduced to community alternatives and were encouraged to visit sites, talk with staff and other parents and to participate in transition planning.  Parents and advocates participated in all stages of the transition including membership on a board that oversaw the process.  Over the years, trust was reconstructed in the step-by-step process of establishing new relationships and experiencing the benefits of community living.

Parents are now having similar experiences in the wake of the legislature's vote to close the Oregon School for the Blind. In his guest blog entry, "Welcome to the Real World of Special Education" Michael Bailey eloquently describes the impact.  Closing this venerable institution that promises to provide highly specialized services to children with vision impairments and co-occurring conditions feels like a betrayal.  Children who became students at OSB because their community failed to serve them adequately are now being told to go back to the scene of their neglect.  And, unlike Fairview, there will be no long, deliberate process for developing new relationships and establishing at least some tentative trust.  The school will close by September 1, 2009.  All transition plans must be completed by August 1.

My view is that people with disabilities are better served in their communities.  Institutions were created in the 19th century with the best intentions of shielding residents from the rigors of society.  But the ideal societies that were envisioned became insular dead-ends for lives that could have experienced and contributed much more.  I have seen, however, community services that fail to achieve their promise due to inadequate funding, lack of access to talented professionals, lack of experienced and well-trained personnel and lax oversight.  Just as no person is immune from failure, the same can be said for service systems.

Are we, as Michael suggests, hurting children in pursuit of a ideal that cannot be realized?  I can't adopt that viewpoint without conceding the futility of achieving a truly inclusive society. Defending both OSB students and our movement toward integration are not incompatible goals.  That is why transitioning OSB students must be provided the resources, expertise and advocacy that is necessary for their success.  Expecting them and their parents to make this abrupt change without a total commitment to success by school districts, the state Departments of Education and Human Services, and disability advocates would indeed be a betrayal.