From the Desk of
Richard J. Robison, Executive Director

Winter 2002

With History on Our Side

In September 1974, upon the implementation of the new Chapter 766 special education law in Massachusetts, the late Dr. Gunnar Dybwad delivered an address to the Massachusetts Association for Mental Health entitled, "How Can We Make Special Education Special?" In it Dybwad argued for the need for permanently authorized federal legislation that "may not deny any child (with a disability) access to a free public program of education and training." He further explained that, "This was the climate in which [the General Court of the Commonwealth of] Massachusetts enacted Chapter 766 of the Laws of 1972, which is widely regarded throughout this country as one of the most thoughtful and forward-looking pieces of educational legislation in this nation."

On May 12, 2000, Dr. Dybwad delivered a revised version of this same address at the 25th Anniversary Gala of the Federation. He reminded us that this dream of a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) had now been the law of the nation for 25 years. Dybwad observed that the ideas about our nation's children, which are embodied in special education legislation, have a long history-one that embraces much of the last century. As early as 1909, President Theodore Roosevelt initiated a succession of White House Conferences on Children and Youth, which began to set forth the rights of the nation's children. In 1930, at the third of these conferences, President Herbert Hoover (the great conservative) articulated the rights of children with disabilities to education and medical treatment. However, Dybwad pointed out that before these rights were acted upon, the nation's attention was diverted to other matters: economic depression, post-depression, pre-war, and world wars. It was not until after World War II that our nation, and our world, began to think concretely about the individual person, dignity and integrity, and the right to opportunity for all citizens. Thus came a succession of legal victories that included Brown vs. Board of Education (1954), the landmark case that determined that education is a right that must be available to all on equal terms. The PARC case (1971, Penn.) applied that right to children with disabilities by determining that the state "may not deny access to a free public program of education to (any child, including) a child with mental retardation."

How ironic that even as Dybwad spoke two years ago, the Massachusetts legislature was poised to repeal the language of Chapter 766. On January 1, 2002, we saw an historic shift take place. Our legal standard of Maximum Possible Development was formally and legally replaced with the less specific Free Appropriate Public Education. While our Massachusetts legal standard has changed, the right of every child to receive a free public education has not. Our challenge, as Dybwad pointed out, is to remember, "consumers have been given a vital role" in the implementation and protection of this legislation. We cannot afford to become diverted to other matters, even as the nation has again focused its attention on economic downturn, terrorism, and war.

The Massachusetts legislative battle is over for now. The new focus is on federal congressional proposals that continue to challenge these rights. During the next session of Congress, our federal special education law, IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), is scheduled for review and reauthorization, a process that makes it vulnerable to changes that could weaken it. As parents and advocates, we have been given a tremendous responsibility-to protect the rights of children with disabilities for the next century. It is an awesome responsibility, but as we learned from Dr. Dybwad, history is on our side; rights that are true rights will not vanish. Let us not become distracted from vigilant protection of those rights!

Dr. Richard J. Robison

became Executive Director of the Federation in April of 1997. Dr. Robison has over 20 years experience with the management of nonprofit volunteer organizations as well as six years experience in state government as a senior policy analyst to the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Retardation. The parent of three children, two of whom have Down syndrome, he is knowledgeable in a broad range of relevant content areas. He was appointed to serve a second 3-year term on the State Advisory Council for special education required under IDEA, is an elected member of the Sudbury, Massachusetts, School Board, serves on the AAUAP Consumer Affairs Council, and in Spring 1997, he was appointed by Secretary of Education Richard Riley to serve on the Goals 2000 “America Goes Back to School” Steering Committee.