Frank D. Lanterman was a Republican State Senator from Pasadena, who was the primary author and force behind passage of California’s landmark disabilities law, now known as the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Act.When negative reviews and press about the state-run “hospitals” for persons with developmental disabilities came to light in the mid-1960s, the state’s response was to try to build more hospitals. But Frank Lanterman asked a different question: What do families want for their loved ones? What do people with disabilities want, to live more productive lives?The Lanterman Act, signed into law by Governor Reagan in 1969 and substantially expanded in 1977, created a new model for services in California: A model based on inclusion, that empowered families and persons with disabilities to make meaningful choices about their own lives.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Reagan and Lanterman
Today would have been Ronald Reagan's 99th birthday. What does that have to do with autism? A website supporting California's Lanterman Act explains:
