Tuesday, October 9, 2018

University Schools of Education and the Fields of Disability in the US: A Brief Look Back at Its History

University Schools of Education and the Fields of Disability in US: 
A Brief Look Back at Its History

Julie Ann Racino, 2018
Syracuse University, School of Education
Rehabilitation Researcher, US Department of Education
1985-1991


        The field of disability in the 1970s and 1980s was often identified with specific educational programs, often called vocational rehabilitation (VR) and special education ("special ed"). Emerging new were residential services (e.g., community living, Wolf Wolfensberger in special education; Hank (Henry J.) Bersani and Julie Ann Racino through NIDRR) which complemented the VR's independent living (IL) program. All the support programs, which often have an "independent living flavor**", are part of the community living branch located in diverse federal departments. The support programs grew from the fields of intellectual and developmental disabilities (then mental retardation) and mental health and substance abuse (MH/SA). 

        At the federal level, US Education hosted a subdepartment (lead) called the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services (OSERS) which were prominent disability leaders through decades (e.g., Honorable Judith E. Heumann). The National Institute on Disability Research and Rehabilitation (NIDRR) was also located in US Department of Education, now up for federal realignment in 2018, and was as the name implies "rehabilitation research" (with community living as above). NIDRR was one of the first federal organizations involved with the research and study of "residential habilitation", a term related to Medicaid financing for community services. 

     At the university levels, a subdepartment in education was also called Division of Special Education and Rehabilitation (at Syracuse University, that period, Douglas Biklen), and the faculty often "hired" to teach or instruct in one of the two fields. New programs ranged from community support services to psychiatric rehabilitation (Racino, 2000). This division was and is located in the Schools of Education, though new colleges have sprung up related to these subfields (Racino, ASPA, 2017). In particular, the roles of psychological, social and behavioral, cognitive, and mental health fields have been impacted as specialties also emerged in fields such as social work. 

    All peer-reviewed journals, faculty promotions, and community planning often divided into these two specializations (rehabilitation and education) separated in part by "age ranges" (school children and adults). In addition, younger children, preschoolers, often arrived via afterschool or family support programs, and other families direct from early intervention to family support programs and/or early childhood programs. In the 1980s and 1990s, these programs which followed community agencies (and then consulted toward the governments), were still in formation stages other than traditional associational credentialing (e.g., vocational rehabilitation).

     Education schools are responsible for teacher preparation programs (teacher credentials, school administration credentialing, state and federal requirements, student teaching) with federal training awards. For example, local school districts "hire teachers credentialed by these university programs". Adult education, which could be arts, sciences and culture (though not usually; "Cultural Foundations of Education"), instead are numerous professions related to education (e.g., school administration, educational assessments, rehabilitation agency administration, university education preparation, to inclusive schooling then disability culture, culture of poverty, racial and minorities in special education ). 

     In 2018, the disability programs are "cordoned off" at Disability Studies in Education (DSE) which has attracted a new group of researchers who explore psychologies (and for this author, without explaining psychology-experimental, theoretical, clinical, community, existential, advanced practicuums- or having even a course). The concern on the "structures and credentialing" was originally "school shooters" and new procedures in education on "active shooter drills" (e.g., school and public facilities). Also disconcerting was the rampant use of "rehabilitation funds" (e.g., corrections-rehabilitation; rehabilitation programs) without the educational sector congruent (i.e., highlighted faculty) with its use in the communities and states in the US. 

Bersani, Henry J. (2012). Disability and Public Health (Drum, Krahn, & Bersani, 2009). 

Biklen, Douglas. (2012). Wikipedia. See, facilitated communication.

Biklen, Sari. (2017, passed). Cultural Foundations in Education, Syracuse University. Syracuse, NY: Alumni Visit. 

Heumann, Judith E. (2012). Wikipedia. See, also, World Institute on Disability. 

Racino, Julie Ann. (2017). Health and Human Services Section Membership Colleges. Denver, CO: American Society for Public Administration. 

Wolfensberger, W. (2012). Wikipedia.  See, normalization and social role valorization.

Brief Word on the Organization of Special Education

    The organization of special education predates the 1970s "baby boomer" arrivals at the workplaces. When this author arrived in 1983 at the university sector via NIDRR funds, inclusion and inclusive schools were still at a conceptual stage (e.g., Stainbacks in Iowa, Biklen in Syracuse, New York) and prior work was known as school integration (e.g., Steven J.Taylor) and mainstreaming (e.g., Carol Berrigan). This author might have said that mainstreaming was necessary to "get to the same school building" and "school integration" is necessary for there to be any inclusion or inclusive activities at all.  The critical federal laws date back to 1974 (i.e., Education for All Handicapped Children's Act)!

     Having already been chairing mental health planning in Onondaga County (where Syracuse University is located, with Richard J. Pratt), this author was concerned immediately about the "old category" of emotionally, mentally and behaviorally disordered (EMBDs) for children which was still being used by the governments and their public-private school systems. And regretfully, the nation has indicated that it is still there today pushing through an "adult psychiatry" framework based upon that "old diagnostic and institutional" approaches. And, in part that is due to the "psychiatrist" often being the MD in charge of involuntary commitments and even the operation of institutional wards (New York, 2013). Having spent a year at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, Illinois, in the late 1970s, I can attest that the faculty were no more equipped than we were to address the challenges.

Douglas Biklen's book, Let My Children Go via Syracuse University.

Sara Wall-Bollinger. 1980s. Children with emotional needs in Onondaga County and available services in the community.

Julie Ann Racino, 1977. Met Nat Raskin at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, post meeting Ken Reagles, Syracuse University Rehabilitation and Wolf Wolfensberger in 1976.

Steven J. Taylor, school integration studies and best practices research, late 1970s.

Carol Berrigan with Human Policy Press and its founding, mainstreaming in schools, late 1970s.

Critical Issues and Critical Studies

     The book I have on my desk today (2018) was the "guidance given to the future teachers" in special education and rehabilitation for "severe disabilities" (an unpopular term at independent living groups). The library referencing and indexing terms were handicapped, handicapped-deinstitutionalization-US, handicapped-services for-US, and handicapped-legal status, laws, etc.-US which reflected the federal initiatives in the US to "Hire the Handicapped" in 1978. Of course, it was the period of critiquing a charity approach to disability (ala Jerry Lewis telethons, still popular fundraising) versus the subsequent period of contributions and "gifts". Finally, the indexing terms (authors are asked for 4-6 terms for an article) have changed in the 21st Century.

     The EMBD ("emotionally and behaviorally disordered") groups are now attempting to reclassify the entire books and departments as their works (e.g., service typologies), such as this author's 1991, 40 site federal study (which they renamed and "lied about"; See, People of the Lie). The federal study was funded under community integration initiatives in the class of disability, rehabilitation community research. And fraudulent activities ("false claims on research studies, management and careers") have been termed current academics. (I'll start, "no academic is allowed to destroy books".) subsequent to Scott Peck's People of the Lie. In fact, the behavioral groups often follow this author (I'd say, monied programs that can be usurped.) and may be doing so today in part as "property acquisition" (2018; confirmed, ASPA, minority classes, 2019).

      The public (regarding embd) is referred to personal assistance and psychiatric survivors in my book, Policy, Program Evaluation and Research in Disability (Racino, 1999) available from Routledge Press, amazon.com. and Barnes and Noble online. I also asked the adults ("semi-structured, federal interviews') what they thought would be good for the children (similar to planning with parents for children's futures) which is presented in another chapter in the same book. Supported housing has similar roots in which wikipedia explains the other options that typically were used (e.g., prisons, psychiatric institutions), "arguing for a better outcome, less expensive, and highly valued" opportunity. Thank you to decades of leaders from World Institute on Disability researchers (e.g., Simi Litvak) to university sector leaders (e.g, Paul Carling, Jan Nisbet), and government leaders to our current Cuomo family!

     The book (Critical Issues in the Lives of People with Disabilities) today is the 1991 effort by the International Association of Persons with Disabilities (TASH International) which supported quality life in the community for families and their/our children. The Association was involved in matters from calls against the use of restraints (current in 2016) to the first educational and recreational programs for children with "severe behavioral or medical challenges" in the US. The main journal called JASH is now retitled as Research and Practice in Severe Disabilities (2018). In 2018, back to the outcries of the fathers of young children, "no excuses for the 2018 restraints on children" in the US and globally. We discussed the private residential "schools" then paid for by local school districts, and "out of the public eye" at the newspaper and public media gates.

     The Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company, which carried a line of "special education and rehabilitation" books, distributed the textbook Critical Issues in the Lives of People with Severe Disabilities (Meyer, Peck, & Brown, 1991) via Baltimore, MD, London, Toronto, and Sydney.  These publishing firms are competitive with "New York Publishing" houses. The textbook or library compendium offers 39 chapters (plus empowerment and choices by "behaviorist" Herb Lovett), and conclusion by Syracuse University faculty, Luanna Meyer Voeltz, also behaviorist-hired by Douglas Biklen. Together with faculty hired via Lou Brown of Wisconsin, behavioral tracks ("not allowed in New York's community programs"), the book features "educational authors" (e.g., Steven J. Taylor, later Professor Emeritus, and Julie Ann Racino) from around the Nation. 

     As a brief commentary, while stories and capacity approaches are highly valued (O'Brien & Mount), the entire book is the province of special and rehabilitation educators ("Schools of Education"). Over 3,000 teachers and professionals meet annually at the TASH conferences over decades to learn and develop approaches to address the challenges of special education, transition and future adults' lives. In particular, the chapters address the "dual diagnoses" (mental retardation and mentally ill, as part of whom TASH serves), cultural sensitivity (and its myriad relatives), friends of the court (to US Supreme Court), immigration (at "remedial education" at language acquisition and cultural adaptation), and the following Major Sections of Critical Issues in Lives of People with Disabilities:

**Definitions and Diagnoses as the new functional assessments, and "testing and diagnoses".
**Deinstitutionalization and Community Services as public policy, capital investments, federal budget resolutions, and integrated vs segregated and institutional settings in addition to community living, supported employment, recreation and leisure, social relationships and new community living.
** Redefinition of Continuum of Services led by Steven J.Taylor as "instead" Zero Exclusion Policies ("subgroup of the providers to the university sector", by the way). This section includes resolutions on the continuum, supported education, personnel preparation, supporting families, regular education environments, integrated related services, and integration revolution (second wave).
** Extensions of the Public Law and Educational Services. Resolutions on Extended School Year, Rehabilitation Act, Section 504 and Educational for Handicapped Children's Act. Early intervention, early childhood, preschool integration, early intervention, and family assessment and empowerment frame this section. 
**Adult Services Reform and Omnibus Legislation. This section included the first community living reform for adults with disabilities, choice, control and communications, review of federal statutes and programs for modifications, and personal futures and community participation. 
** Life and Death Issues with resolutions on infant care, nutrition and hydration, organ transplant, and cessation of "intrusive interventions" and resolution on "SBIS". The section discusses the future of applied behavioral analysis, power and aversive control, medical treatment and responsibility, to "behavioral empowerment and choices". 
Meyer's conclusion (chapter 41) is on the Discrepancies between What Is, and What Ought to Be and How to Get There (popular conference conclusion, too, Julie Ann Racino). 

Thank you to Jervis Public Library for making the book available for a $3.00 interlibrary shipping fee charge in 2018. We send greetings to Luanna Meyer Voeltz back in Hawaii (retired); thanked "book review editor" Carl Peck for his journal review of the Community Participation Series, and spoke with Lou Brown about his students Alison Ford and Jan Nisbet back about 6 years ago. 

Meyer, L.H., Peck, C.A. & Brown, L. (1991). Critical Lives for Persons with Severe Disabilities. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.

Racino, Julie Ann. (1999). Policy, Program Evaluation and Research in Disability.  Binghamton, NY, NY, NY, London: Haworth Press. Distributed by amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and Routledge Press.

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The Culture of Lies or Ethic Statements in 2018

      A few conclusions at "academics" and "lies" in 2018 (Yes, heated debates in high school in the 1960s on what is a white lie- to not hurt or offend another being? Later the province of Philosophy 101, Cornell University, Fall 1971). The reader can first see why referring to the above plan with 33 chapters prepared for teachers and professionals across the country really cannot be called "dumping" (that's what was moved foreword). The chapters still are good professional reading in 2018 by accomplished authors, many of whom have had decades of advanced degree students! It may, however, refer to the relationships of one group of professionals to another "competing entities".

     Second, the adult services reform could be considered relatively funded and "should be completed" (e.g., NIDILRR, US Department of Health and Human Services; Associations for Community Living). The two major disability federal laws (Education of All Handicapped Children's Act, then IDEA-Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and its subsequent revisions; and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 with its revision (1978), and major "replacement" the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and "its bastardization" in 2008)  have "passed the test of time" and all the "programs or terms" are known today.

      Third, the medical and the behavioral are deeply intertwined (e.g., genetics, nutrition, pharmaceuticals, child rearing, social environments, low incidence syndromes, brain injury) since many medical conditions can cause "behavioral symptoms" as can "poor care" or "poor social environments".  Adding "behavioral health" to everything (e.g., behavioral challenges, such as inadequately trained staff, poor assessments and treatment planning) does not clarify anything ("obscufate"); and claiming one profession offers it instead of another or another department does not "solve the problem".

    Finally, life and death has moved to other areas such as abortions (genetics) and physician assisted suicides, and that of elders, minorities, and the poor (as "disparate medical care"), the latter still not really public.Presented at the 150th celebration of Cornell University was "an academic stance on Down syndrome, chromosomal" and genetic recommendations. 

Racino, Julie Ann. (2000). Personnel Preparation in Disability and Community Life. Springfield, IL: Charles C.Thomas Publishing.

Racino, Julie Ann. (2019). Cornell University Class of 1975. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, Alumni Association.


Continuing Words on Involuntary Commitments
So much to say, and so little written at 6 million books on Barnes and Noble. 

  ** For example, this author only offered voluntary community services (Let's start, check with the Arc and UCPA and your United Way agencies under new management, e.g., Mohawk Valley Health System) in the 1970s, though authorized for "involuntary commitments" to institutional facilities (e.g., private, state or other government operated entities). Involuntary, legal procedure was termed 2-physician certificate (and, yes, did involve voluntary commitments in private, small institutions/hospitals, at history of suicidal attempts). The literature indicates extreme reported escalation in Europe on involuntary care circa 2017, and high incidence of use of restraints within the facilities.

      I might explain that physicians do and should think differently is not agreed upon (e.g., "the President is not above the law, but is authorized to sign Executive orders while "others are not") in part due to still "bad physician preparation" (e.g., What is quality of life? What are the choices available? What is the difference between community and institutional living? What are the different "community treatment modalities" today)?  Instead, confirmed since 1991 are police attacks on the voluntary care management (different management?) and collusion of that nature (all subversive and convoluted) with the local judicial and its governments. Readers were referred to Steven J. Taylor's book on amazon.com

Racino, J.A. (2014). Public Administration and Disability: Community Services Administration in the US.  NY, NY: CRC Press. http://www.crcpress.com/authors

Taylor, S.J. (2009). Acts of Conscience: World War II, Mental Institutions, and Religious Objectors. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.

2 comments:

  1. As of 2019, American Society for Public Administration published a behavioral public administration as "the newest" (called asylums of old, handcuffed to walls in dungeons!) and also highlighted a new behavioral administration budget and financing journal. Terms social and community were "dropped" from any association with the word "behavioral" (post Obama to Trump administration, waterboarding approved by US Senate, May 2018) and the US Center for Medicaid and Medicare placed the term person-centered with behavioral management (e.g., police style takedowns). Public Administration Review (PAR) when commended by this party for its leadership, changed journal editors and "shut out any publications related to homes, communities, community financing, community integration, long term services and supports, and families". The guess is "they will snooker the public again" at all elections and civil service and budgeting in US! Julie Ann Racino, ASPA, Budget and Finance, 2019 "started with goal of privatization of jails and Social Security"

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