In the early 1960s, a girl was born to a family in Indiana. The girl was born with significant health issues, including developmental disabilities. Her family was offered a choice: send her to an institution and forget about her or take her home and try to raise her with no help. Although this wasn't much of a choice, the family took her home.
The birth of this girl started a tremendous movement. The family moved to another state. Based on their experience in the struggles to provide a decent life for their daughter/sister with special needs, the family reached out to other families that had members with special needs. The family fought for public school special education programs in which their daughter and thousands of other children with special needs could attend. The family fought for community-based services so that people without special needs could live and work outside of large institutions. This girl's mother went on to head the state agency that advocates for people with developmental disabilities. Almost ten years ago, the mother resigned her position to spend more thime with the daughter that was near death.
Obviously, the daughter rallied. She had an incredibly sharp wit and a permanent mischievious smirk. She was pals with nationally known politicians, including Hilary Clinton. National, state and local officials knew her personally. In short, she was a true inspiration to a large circle of people.
Amy died last week. She kept claiming that she was "going to check out" on Halloween. She passed away at about 2:30 am on November 1. There is now a huge void in the life of many people. I attended the visitation. I saw pictures of Amy with many famous politicians and actors. I noticed flowers from a well-known U.S. Senator. While saying a prayer at the side of her coffin, I had to laugh. The smirk was still on her face.
Amy provided tremendous lessons to many people, including me. I hope to meet this teacher again.
No comments:
Post a Comment