Intuition

Someone described the situation I was in as “you have a tiger by its tail.” This posting is about an intuition I received that helped tremendously. Before I tell you about this intuition, I need to give you some background information.

At the time, I was a public information person for a human services agency. What my agency was attempting to do was the right thing. Take children and adults with developmental disabilities out of state institutions and place them back into their home communities. Basically, we were creating small group homes that were under six people and a foster parent program, mostly for children.

The children and adults were sent away because doctors at the time were suggesting it and because there were no opportunities for them in their home communities. They were not allowed to go to school or work. Also, the philosophy back then was they could not learn. All of this has changed drastically, of course. We now know that everyone can learn.

Back then there were exposes on abuse that was happening at state institutions. Willowbrook in New York made national news, and almost every state had similar scandals. Basically, there was dehumanization occurring at institutions.

When we started to place people out of institutions into their home communities, a public out roar happened. The public would say things like these people were happy living in institutions; and, anyway, these group homes were businesses in residential areas. We encountered over 30 lawsuits. Some of our group homes were set on fire and shot at.

As the public information person for the agency, it was partly my responsibility to fight the opposition. I was contacted by 60 Minutes about the controversy and the segment, Not On My Street, launched the new season in 1980 and was watched by over 23 million people. I kept track of my telephone calls for a year — I was getting two phone calls a day from the local news media. In one year, 23 different reporters from one metro newspaper contacted me.

While I felt that I was holding my own against the community opponents, I also feared they were getting stronger and that they would one day unite and defeat the community placement. I found myself praying daily for guidance, since I felt daily that I did, indeed, have a tiger by the tail.

Now for the intuition. I was at a conference listening to a national speaker. What he was talking about was not helpful to my dilemma of our opponents getting stronger. I was not thinking about this at the time when out of the blue I heard a thought. It was not about anything I was thinking about at the time.

I have learned over the years to listen to thoughts that interfere with your regular thinking. The thought that came to me was more like a message was being relayed to me — “a knowing of something” or “a recognition of something.” I did not hear a voice or have an altered state of consciousness.

Here is what the message that came to me: my agency cannot fight the opposition by itself. If the agency continued on its present course, it would lose. I took the message very serious and as I considered it “a knowing.”

I considered the message a serious warning, however. I decided the message was asking me to work with others to fight the opposition. I have a master’s degree in Journalism. I had no experience in community organization.

Right after the conference I called up two advocacy agencies from two different counties. I told them I needed their help and that I would like to meet with them. We did meet, and they were more than happy to help out. We worked on a proactive strategy together in an attempt to keep a step ahead of the community opposition. Our efforts were successful.

Soon word of our success spread. I was invited to a meeting of agencies from another county to explain what we had done and why it was successful. From that meeting, we decided to start up a coalition, which we called “ACT for Developmental Disabilities,” or known around the state as ACT for DD.

Soon we had over 15 agencies that joined. We organized several rallies to the state capitol that included participation by the governor and legislators. We held news conferences, special events for the public, and got statewide publicity. One event is something people still talk about. We walked over 60 miles to the state capitol. For each mile, a friend would accompany a person with a developmental disability. They would walk or run. It took a few days to make it to the state capitol. In the meantime, the news media was giving us daily coverage.

The day of the rally in the state capitol, we got everyone who participated in the walk to the capitol to assemble a few blocks away. We then proceeded together to the steps of the capitol, where the governor and legislators were assembled. The young people with developmental disabilities ran up the steps and gave the governor and legislators hugs. I saw several legislators start to cry.

We eventually won our battle against the opposition, and we released thousands of children and adults from state institutions, many of which are now permanently closed. The children and adults are living active lives living and working in their home communities.

Today, we do not send people away to institutions. They now stay with their parents, go to school, work, and receive support from agencies, such as mine.

I believe the message I heard that day at the conference did not come from me but from the Spirit. For some reason, Spirit burst through. I do not know why Spirit broke through, but I am thankful that It did. Everything that happened since that message was followed just fell into place, such as the some many agencies banning to work effortlessly together.