WEBVTT 00:00:00.00 --> 00:00:11.42 Wagons to Waivers - Segment 2: Humble Beginnings 00:00:11.43 --> 00:00:13.60 Reba McEntire: Oklahomans have faced a lot of challenges 00:00:13.60 --> 00:00:15.30 throughout our state's history. 00:00:15.30 --> 00:00:19.30 We've dealt with everything from unpredictable weather, 00:00:19.30 --> 00:00:23.37 overcoming the "Grapes Of Wrath" stereotype, 00:00:23.37 --> 00:00:25.47 and how to best provide services 00:00:25.47 --> 00:00:29.90 to our citizens with intellectual disabilities. 00:00:29.90 --> 00:00:33.30 As a family member of a person with a disability, 00:00:33.30 --> 00:00:36.10 I've seen firsthand the support it takes to allow 00:00:36.10 --> 00:00:42.10 Oklahomans with disabilities to enjoy life to its fullest. 00:00:42.10 --> 00:00:46.37 It's been a bumpy road since Oklahoma became a state in 1907, 00:00:46.37 --> 00:00:49.80 and we've learned a lot about serving people with disabilities 00:00:49.80 --> 00:00:55.13 since we created that first institution shortly after statehood. 00:00:55.13 --> 00:00:57.20 Oklahoma's constitution was written 00:00:57.20 --> 00:01:00.00 to put the needs of its citizens first. 00:01:00.00 --> 00:01:03.73 Its populist form of government recognized from the beginning 00:01:03.73 --> 00:01:05.97 that some people would need more support, 00:01:05.97 --> 00:01:08.87 including people with disabilities. 00:01:08.87 --> 00:01:12.03 In those days, institutions were being built 00:01:12.03 --> 00:01:14.33 in states all across the nation, 00:01:14.33 --> 00:01:17.50 because it was thought that was the best way to care 00:01:17.50 --> 00:01:22.57 for people with conditions such as mental retardation. 00:01:22.57 --> 00:01:26.43 As early as 1909, the second Oklahoma legislature 00:01:26.43 --> 00:01:29.67 designed funding for the state's first institution, 00:01:29.67 --> 00:01:32.50 and the following year, the Oklahoma Institution 00:01:32.50 --> 00:01:35.70 for the Feeble Minded opened in Enid. 00:01:35.70 --> 00:01:38.27 Its published mission was to provide an asylum 00:01:38.27 --> 00:01:42.37 for feeble minded and idiotic persons, 00:01:42.37 --> 00:01:44.20 as they were called back then, 00:01:44.20 --> 00:01:48.47 and to provide training for those who were able to work. 00:01:48.47 --> 00:01:50.97 Thank goodness we've come a long way since those days 00:01:50.97 --> 00:01:55.60 when people were labeled as "idiots", "morons", or "imbeciles." 00:01:55.60 --> 00:01:58.53 Even though those were actual medical terms, 00:01:58.53 --> 00:02:03.07 they became labels used by society that caused hurt. 00:02:03.07 --> 00:02:09.20 Over time, the medical community abandoned use of those terms. 00:02:09.20 --> 00:02:14.27 Julia Teska: A lot of people belie ve that institutions were started 00:02:14.27 --> 00:02:17.30 in order to get these people out of town, 00:02:17.30 --> 00:02:20.13 or hide them or something. 00:02:20.13 --> 00:02:24.53 The real impetus for institutions initially, historically, 00:02:24.53 --> 00:02:29.07 was the sincere belief that people with disabilities 00:02:29.07 --> 00:02:32.43 would be better off with people of their own kind; 00:02:32.43 --> 00:02:39.40 they would not be subjected to teasing, to ridicule, 00:02:39.40 --> 00:02:42.03 to those kinds of really negative impacts on their lives. 00:02:42.03 --> 00:02:44.07 Reba McEntire: In the early days, the Institution for the 00:02:44.07 --> 00:02:46.57 Feeble Minded consisted of one building, 00:02:46.57 --> 00:02:50.63 known as the White House, and it still stands today. 00:02:50.63 --> 00:02:53.50 Over the next thirty years, the need for services grew, 00:02:53.50 --> 00:02:56.33 and so did the Institution's campus. 00:02:56.33 --> 00:02:59.83 More housing was built, as well as a hospital, 00:02:59.83 --> 00:03:03.10 dairy and poultry farms, a greenhouse, bakery, 00:03:03.10 --> 00:03:05.30 and laundry facilities. 00:03:05.30 --> 00:03:09.50 There were even barber and beauty shops on campus. 00:03:09.50 --> 00:03:11.97 By 1945, the demand for services 00:03:11.97 --> 00:03:14.50 was just too great for one institution, 00:03:14.50 --> 00:03:17.87 so the state converted the Training School for White Boys 00:03:17.87 --> 00:03:22.97 in Paul's Valley, into the Paul's Valley Hospital for Epileptics. 00:03:22.97 --> 00:03:25.07 The institutions were self-supporting, 00:03:25.07 --> 00:03:27.13 almost cities within cities. 00:03:27.13 --> 00:03:28.77 They produced all their own food, 00:03:28.77 --> 00:03:32.20 selling the excess to the local communities. 00:03:32.20 --> 00:03:35.97 School-aged children attended classes on campus, 00:03:35.97 --> 00:03:38.60 while the adults who were able worked 00:03:38.60 --> 00:03:40.80 in all different areas of the Institution. 00:03:40.80 --> 00:03:43.77 For many, there was never a reason to leave the campuses. 00:03:43.77 --> 00:03:46.13 People lived their entire lives there, 00:03:46.13 --> 00:03:51.90 and some even buried on Institution grounds. 00:03:51.90 --> 00:03:54.17 Even though it was the mid 40's, 00:03:54.17 --> 00:03:56.30 there was still a lot to be learned 00:03:56.30 --> 00:03:59.63 about people with intellectual disabilities. 00:03:59.63 --> 00:04:02.70 In 1953, the Oklahoma State Department 00:04:02.70 --> 00:04:06.53 of Mental Health and Mental Retardation was created. 00:04:06.53 --> 00:04:10.70 The two institutions were put under the direction of that department, 00:04:10.70 --> 00:04:13.87 and were eventually renamed to Enid State School 00:04:13.87 --> 00:04:17.53 and Paul's Valley State School. 00:04:17.53 --> 00:04:21.20 George Miller: The problem was, so much emphasis was placed on the centers, 00:04:21.20 --> 00:04:24.53 there was not a lot of emphasis placed on community-based services. 00:04:24.53 --> 00:04:27.67 In fact, they didn't exist, and people weren't demanding 00:04:27.67 --> 00:04:29.57 those kinds of services at that time. 00:04:29.57 --> 00:04:32.87 They wanted their loved ones in a secure place 00:04:32.87 --> 00:04:35.90 where they knew they would be taken care of. 00:04:35.90 --> 00:04:40.37 Julia Teska: It's pretty exhausting to be the parent of a child with disabilities. 00:04:40.37 --> 00:04:42.53 It's exhausting to be a parent, 00:04:42.53 --> 00:04:46.67 let alone one that that has got disabilities. 00:04:46.67 --> 00:04:51.50 It's difficult to find a doctor, it's difficult to find a dentist. 00:04:51.50 --> 00:04:53.43 When I lived in Norman, Oklahoma, 00:04:53.43 --> 00:04:56.60 we could take children to the dentist on "retarded day". 00:04:56.60 --> 00:04:59.27 That's what one dentist's office called it. 00:04:59.27 --> 00:05:02.43 And he was not being unkind, 00:05:02.43 --> 00:05:05.10 but we had to come in the back door for heaven's sake. 00:05:05.10 --> 00:05:09.57 So it was not just the schools, there just were not 00:05:09.57 --> 00:05:14.30 the services in the communities that children needed. 00:05:14.30 --> 00:05:16.53 Reba McEntire: Because there were no community services, 00:05:16.53 --> 00:05:19.63 doctors routinely encouraged parents to institutionalize 00:05:19.63 --> 00:05:22.57 children with intellectual disabilities. 00:05:22.57 --> 00:05:25.67 The parents were told to move on with their lives. 00:05:25.67 --> 00:05:28.83 As a result, many young children, and even infants, 00:05:28.83 --> 00:05:33.80 were brought to the institutions, and many were forgotten. 00:05:33.80 --> 00:05:37.27 Julia Teska: For a lot of the individuals living at the institutions, 00:05:37.27 --> 00:05:42.77 there were no family. Their family either were all dead, 00:05:42.77 --> 00:05:46.33 or living out of state, or for some reason were unable 00:05:46.33 --> 00:05:51.57 to maintain the contact with that family member. 00:05:51.57 --> 00:05:57.17 For those people, staff were family, 00:05:57.17 --> 00:06:00.67 and on holidays and birthdays, many of the staff 00:06:00.67 --> 00:06:02.63 would take these individuals home with them 00:06:02.63 --> 00:06:06.70 and they were treated just as another family member. 00:06:06.70 --> 00:06:08.60 There were other times when the relationships 00:06:08.60 --> 00:06:11.73 were not very good, understandably. 00:06:11.73 --> 00:06:16.00 Things that were not very positive. 00:06:16.00 --> 00:06:18.27 But many of the staff worked there for years 00:06:18.27 --> 00:06:21.87 and they developed long term relationships with these individuals, 00:06:21.87 --> 00:06:31.73 and maintained them even when they retired.