You have to know where you have been in order to know where you are going.

I am the parent of a child who was identified as having a disability shortly after birth.  I remember carefully preparing a list of behaviors I would model or avoid as a parent and the topics I felt I could comfortably discuss:

• I will verbally express my unconditional love for my child.
• I will never spank.
• I am human and make mistakes — I can and will apologize to my child when I am at fault.
• We are sexual human beings — I will be prepared to anticipate and answer my child’s questions in relation to physical development, and sexuality.

Along with the promise to answer questions in relation to physical development and sexuality, I understood it was important to teach boundaries.  Boundaries included who in your circle do you give or receive a hug, when and where can you masturbate, attire when answering the door, etc. 

You have to know where you have been in order to know where you are going.

The foundation of AdvocacyDenver is advocacy. In the first years parents supported each other, advancing the dream that one day all children would be able to attend school. For decades countless number of advocates worked tirelessly to forward the human rights of children and adults with disabilities. Over time we realized change in the different public systems. Sometimes change was a result of collaborative work championing legislation and forwarding systemic change, and sometimes leaders would listen. Other times system leaders, in particular school systems, would lawyer up and taunt advocates to “bring it on”.

You have to know where you have been in order to know where you are going.

In AdvocacyDenver History Part I we said that the Denver County Chapter of the National Association for Retarded Children was established May 12, 1954, by parents to address the lack of access for children with disabilities to public education and in-home supports. With time the capitol C stood for citizen. The Denver association moved to an acronym ARC and eventually our articles of incorporation were modified to Arc of Denver. Officially we are Arc of Denver doing business as AdvocacyDenver. Why the name change; why did we rebrand?

You have to know where you have been in order to know where you are going.

Last month we talked about the early years of our organization and our guardianship program where the advocates before us took pride in working to move adults from institutional settings to community settings with appropriate support. For many of these adults it was the first time they felt they had a voice in terms of when they would get up in the morning, what they would eat, wear and how they would spend their free time. At the same time advocates were working with adults who were raised at home, some attended “special” programs in a public school, some attended a separate school, and some were only “allowed” to attend school for a while… Everyone’s journey was different. Some remembered being bullied, called names, and each experienced adversity. People First was established in the mid-sixties as a grassroots movement to empower self-advocates with disabilities to have a voice in addressing issues of equality. People first language puts the person before the disability.

It is important to know where we have been, in order to know where we are going.

On occasion, AdvocacyDenver will get a call or a referral, where a family member or provider will ask if we provide guardianship services or could serve as a guardian for an adult with an intellectual and developmental disability. This question is not outside of the norm; there are many chapters of The Arc that offer guardianship services.

It is important to know where we have been, in order to know where we are going.

The foundation for DCARC, The Arc of Denver (D.B.A. AdvocacyDenver) has been our Board of Directors. Over the past seven decades a countless number of parents, self-advocates, siblings, doctors, lawyers, educators, psychologists, religious leaders, politicians and white- or blue-collar workers have served on our Board of Directors and helped shape the future for our organization.

It is important to know where we have been, in order to know where we are going.

By 1961, DCARC (“Denver Association for Retarded Children”) had grown in numbers.  New chapters were situated in Pueblo, Jefferson and Southwest Adams counties.  This first newsletter speaks to the focus in the early years.  Membership was not limited to parents, but included teachers, doctors, theological and business leaders.   The newsletter highlights a scholarship fund.  The scholarship fund was likely in response to Public Law 86-158 The Training of Professional Personnel Act of 1959 which helped train leaders to educate children with intellectual disabilities.  Parents and the community understood (then and now) that they would need to grow the number of professionals whose focus was on the education of children with disabilities. 

It is important to know where we have been, in order to know where we are going.

I am the parent of a child who was identified as having a disability shortly after birth.  My daughter was premature, her health was fragile and she was in and out of the hospital many times in those first few years.  I took life one day at a time, I did not think about or plan for my daughter’s future because I wasn’t sure if she would be with me tomorrow; instead I cherished each moment, each day.