The Boston Globe
Activists Protest Agency Name
Disabled student trained in civil disobedience arrested with his teachers
By Hilary Chabot

Valentine's Day, February 15, 2000

Holding seven signs that spelled the word ''RESPECT'' and wearing waterproof ponchos over 'Change This Name'' T-shirts, about 20 protesters withstood gusting winds and drizzle yesterday to protest the name of the Department of Mental Retardation.

Four members of The Peace Abbey, a local grassroots organization, were arrested after they handcuffed themselves to the front gate of the State House, shouting through a bullhorn that the name is insulting and archaic. (Arrested for civil disobedience was Lewis Randa, Director of the School, Dot Walsh and Marty Schnier, teachers in the program and Corty Woods a student with the diagnosis of mental retardation.)

Agency spokeswoman Donna Rheame said that the name is a clinical definition, although she acknowledged that some have grown uncomfortable with the term. She said that there is ''an active, ongoing discussion concerning changing the name'' but that agency staff members must reach a consensus first. Protest supporter Susan Bailey, whose 29-year-old daughter is developmentally disabled, says she has become acutely aware of the negative connotations that go along with the term ''retarded.'
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''It is not a neutral description,'' Bailey said. ''It's a loaded word.''
But Rheame said the name change would require legislative action, and that that won't happen until everyone concerned - the agency's staff, its clients, and families - can agree upon the change.

''Some stakeholders believe that a name change would not be in their best interest right now because it may lead to less resources available for people with mental retardation,'' Rheame said.

Still, Bailey and other protesters maintain that the terminology is long outdated and infringes on the privacy of mentally retarded clients by exposing their diagnosis.

''It's very important that a department exists that focuses on the needs of these individuals,'' Bailey said. ''By using the diagnosis in the name of the department, it's implying that privacy is not an issue for the department's clients.''

Advocates of the name change have cited the states of New Hampshire and South Carolina, which have found acceptable alternatives. However, both states renamed their agencies only after policy changes that required the department to take on a broader title. 

Press Release, February 15, 2000
A Different Kind of Valentine's Day Event 

The staff, special needs students, self advocates and friends of The Life Experience School, in the spirit of The Boston Tea Party and the examples of Henry David Thoreau, Gandhi and King, will lead the VALENTINE'S DAY CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE PROTEST (12 noon at the front gate of the State House) to demand that the Department of Mental Retardation change it's name.

A clinical diagnosis should not be in the name of a state agency. Besides being hurtful, insulting and blatantly disrespectful to all people with mental challenges and their families, it is a breach of privacy and a human rights violation. That it has remained the name of this agency this long reflects a shameful disregard for the feelings of those it serves.

Departments throughout America serving this population have removed the diagnosis from human service names. Even South Carolina, which flies the Confederate flag in front of its State House, removed mental retardation from its Department's name years ago.

Self advocates across Massachusetts have worked earnestly for over two years for a name change. Must they grovel and beg? The insensitive reference to their limitations (diagnosis) in the Department's name is inexcusable. It is appalling that a Department which provides such wonderful programs for people with special needs is so insensitive and unresponsive to something this basic.

The Life Experience School, under the care The Peace Abbey, is demanding that Massachusetts do as other states have and remove this hurtful label. On Valentine's Day, the School's certification document from the Department of Mental Retardation will be burned in protest in front of the State House, in the spirit of Gandhi's defiant action in South Africa when non-whites were required to carry identification cards. This action is an expression of the School's Zero Tolerance Policy on violence and abusive language. The nonviolent, civil disobedience action, which is intended to result in arrests, will take place at 1:00 P.M. <

How much longer must citizens with mental challenges and their families wait? How much longer can the Department, in good conscience, keep this name? DMR must be held to the same human rights standards they require of Provider Agencies. Hypocrisy in government only heightens cynicism toward social programs and undermines trust in public officials.

Valentine's Day is the perfect day for DMR to give a gift of Respect & Love to those they serve and change the name. If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention!