WEBVTT

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One of the things that is true with almost

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any new movement

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is that in its early years

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there is a passion, an excitement,

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like Rosemary described,

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and oftentimes there are

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people who emerge as leaders.

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In the past, say, three decades

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since the movement began in 1950;

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In fact, I think it got started

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in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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Um-hmm. That’s right. Yah.

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In those three decades, could you

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tell us who you might think of as the leaders, both

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parent and professional in those, in those...

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Well, in the very early days,

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in the 19... late 1940s and then, of course,

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as you say correctly, in 1950

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here in Minneapolis,

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was the first, the founding assembly of

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what was then called the National Association of Parents

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and Friends of Mentally Retarded.

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There was quite a group of people,

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and it is hard to single out any one of them.

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I might say that

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a very active member of this group was

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Mr. Lindh from Minnesota.

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And, among the professional people in the field,

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again I can single out a Minnesotan,

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that was Mildred Thomson, who was

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primarily responsible in the professional field

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to recognize the value of an

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independent organization of parents.

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They were a good number of

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professionals in those days felt

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that the parent movement should be

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an auxiliary to the professional organization.

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It was Mildred Thomson, herself

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an older professional person,

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that’s all wrong, we need the parents

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as an independent body speaking for themselves,

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watching what we are doing.

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So Minnesota had really a very important role to play,

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and I should quickly add here, of course,

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Governor Youngdahl

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who, at this first assembly in 1950,

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made a speech about the rights

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of persons with mental retardation,

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particularly the rights of children with mental retardation,

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which was 20 years ahead of its time.

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Governor Youngdahl was a great leader.

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And so Minnesota, really,

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played a very important role in this.

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But, of course, as you say, eventually

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leaders grow out of such movements,

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and probably one of the most astounding leaders

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was Elizabeth Boggs, is Elizabeth Boggs,

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a parent of a child with

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profound degree of mental retardation.

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Herself a product of

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PhD from the University of Cambridge in

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England in mathematical chemistry,

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somebody who worked on the atomic energy

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during wartime, and who is without a doubt

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the most knowledgeable, the most versatile

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person to this day in our field.

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Really, a one, you see that

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belies our silly phrase of “lay people.”

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She is a parent and she’s not a

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professional paid to work in our field,

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but to call her a lay person is silly, you see.

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She is far more a professional individual

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than many people who have a paid position.

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So she is a very great leader.

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In more recent years, we had

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some very interesting persons,

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Lotte Moise a parent in California,

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Ann Turnbull, who teaches special education

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and who with her husband, who is a lawyer

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and special educator,

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have allowed their son,

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who is severely multiply handicapped,

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to become a symbol of a

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modern positive approach.

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So she represents the younger

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person in our field,

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which perhaps is

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not as dependent on the existence of the

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former parent association,

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she represents the parents’ movement, but

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she has contributed tremendously

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to an understanding and has been very free

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to talk about her own son

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and what it means.

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I think there’s someone else,

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another kind of person,

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just an ordinary housewife, perhaps,

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who, faced with the challenge of having

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a handicapped child

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has grown into a real professional

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even if she never gets paid for her voluntary work.

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But we’ve met many people like this who

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are quite open in saying, “I

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never would have believed I’m doing

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what I’m doing now,

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that I dare to go and speak to the legislators

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the way I can now,

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but I found I can.”

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And I know people in Australia and New Zealand,

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in England, in Denmark

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who have simply been turned into

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different kinds of people.