History, Policies
In the colonial era in New England, people with developmental disabilities were primarily cared for by their families. Without that support, people would often end up as paupers, living on the coffers of the towns they lived in. Alongside others who struggled with poverty, people with disabilities who didn’t have strong community connections would often be “warned out” by communities – told to leave, or even worse, put in a cart and tossed out over the town border.
![Warning Out in New England, 1656-1817 by Josiah Henry Benton, page 20 From this custom came the fundamental principle of the ancient law of England, that every place where people lived must be a free community or settlement, every member of which was answerable for the good conduct of, or the damage done by, any one of the other members. This obligation was termed "frankpledge", later "peacepledge." Bracton says: -- [quote ends]](http://shadowsofpineland.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/1600s-Warning-Out-in-New-England-1.png)
Money
From the beginning of the institutional period, the cost of providing care for people with developmental disabilities was both the reason for building larger and larger congregate settings and an excuse for any evidence of neglect or poor treatment that came to light.
Throughout the history of Pineland you can see the frequent requests for more funding. When Pineland was closed a new pool of money was flooded into the community. This followed a series of cuts and the same types of pleas for additional funds that can be seen through the institutional period.
To this day, disagreements over the amount of funding put towards services plague this system. Reimbursement rates and workers’ paychecks, infrastructure and innovative care – the question of “how do we pay for this?” hangs over all the decisions made.
Values
Who and what do we value in our society? How do we determine someone’s “worth”, and whether they are deserving of help when they need it? Are all people really equal – and do we treat everyone as equally human?
People with developmental disabilities were sent to institutions because they were seen as useless or even dangerous to society. Their value in a place like Pineland rested on their potential for being trained to do menial labor – a Pineland resident could potentially get a furlough or even release from the institution if they could show that they could work.
In general, people with developmental disabilities throughout our history have been dismissed, patronized, and dehumanized. Doctors assumed that people with developmental disabilities didn’t feel pain, caretakers believed that they did not need friendships or hobbies or someone to communicate with, and society saw them as dangerous and unfit.
There were also people and moments in history that shifted our assumptions about the value of people with developmental disabilities – President Kennedy’s experience of loving his sister with disabilities led to huge policy shifts that impacted people with developmental disabilities across our country, and the brave self-advocates who organized a civil rights movement led directly to another president signing the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The question must be posed, what is the value of all potential members of the community, with or without disability, to the very health and fiber of the community?
