Our mission is to empower children and adults with developmental disabilities to achieve their potential based on personal choices, abilities and interests...

Westchester Arc
The Gleeson-Israel Gateway Center
265 Saw Mill River Road
Hawthorne, NY 10532
914.949.9300
info@westchesterarc.org

24-hour
Crisis Intervention:
914.949.8200

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Progress and Persisting Stereotypes

Richard P. Swierat, Executive Director

Many—if not most—people know of someone who has autism, learning delays, Down syndrome, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, mental retardation or another developmental disability. Autism alone has grabbed headlines with its skyrocketing rates of diagnosis.

Since Westchester Arc’s founding, there has been a tectonic shift in public policy relating to people with developmental disabilities. At the same time, however, many challenges remain as they seek to build fulfilling lives within the greater community.

Over 55 years ago, Westchester Arc was established by a group of parents desperate for educational, social and vocational opportunities for their children. At that time, a youngster with Down syndrome could not attend public school. New mothers and fathers were routinely advised to institutionalize their infants. Some were told to inform family and friends that their babies had died in childbirth. People with developmental disabilities were warehoused in state facilities whose names have become synonymous with abuse.

Since that time, the world has changed. Three-year-olds with autism can now attend pre-school alongside typically developing kids. They learn to speak. They go to birthday parties. They graduate into community kindergartens.

Teenagers with Down syndrome dream about independence and a career. They get internships to learn about the business world and after graduation, they may work in retail, in an office or elsewhere.

Their residential opportunities, too, have dramatically altered. Depending upon the extent of their disability, they may live independently in an apartment, with occasional supportive services, or in a group residence of three to eight people, roommates who become extended family.

The fact is that people with developmental disabilities have a great deal in common with the general population. They work, pay taxes, vote and create art. And this is where we come, perhaps, to the largest continuing challenge to community acceptance. Because the stereotypes that persist are both inaccurate and cruel, creating obstacles as individuals stretch to realize their personal potential.

Governor Spitzer, speaking at a Westchester Arc event prior to his election, noted that the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is an astounding 66 percent and that it actually worsened during the economic boom of the 1990s. “The benefits to companies who employ qualified disabled workers are well-documented,” he said. He continued to list a number of initiatives that he supported, including creation of a database containing both job-seekers with disabilities and potential employers.

But perhaps there is no issue relating to individuals with developmental disabilities that stirs more passion than that of opening group homes in residential neighborhoods. Westchester Arc supports over 40 apartments and houses throughout Westchester County, homes that bear no resemblance to institutions. Roommates,supported by Westchester Arc staff, go to work or to day programs each morning, returning in the evening to share stories over dinner. They barbecue on weekends. They go bowling and to the movies. They make many friends within the neighborhood. The Journal News has written about the efforts of one such “family,” three young men with Down syndrome, who live in Greenburgh and petitioned town hall to build a sidewalk in their neighborhood.

People with developmental disabilities want to be respected as individuals, not excluded because of preconceptions.