Liberty and Disability

Liberty and Disability
The preamble to the Constitution of the United States says We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”(spelling and capitalizations are in the original, emphasis is added). 
The framers and drafters of our Constitution clearly intended that the national government should be committed to protecting the liberty of its citizens and actively securing the blessings which liberty has to bestow.  It has taken over 230 years to understand what that commitment means. At the time, the blessings of liberty were not secured for slaves, or for women. But America eventually found ways to secure the blessings of liberty for both groups. No thought was given to how the nation would secure the blessings of liberty for people with disabilities until recently.
In the 1960s tens of thousands of people with mental illness or intellectual disabilities were incarcerated in shocking human warehouses without having committed a crime and often without the benefit of a trial or a hearing.  People with physical disabilities were also given no choice but life in restrictive nursing homes where their lives were short and devoid of the freedoms that the rest of us take for granted.  There were no armies of volunteers or charitable organizations to assist these Americans.  The blessings of liberty were no more than a forgotten dream. It seems that securing the blessings of liberty for people with disabilities requires more than just leaving them alone or releasing them from institutions to die on the streets.   If a person is not capable of moving their arms or legs, of getting out of bed, of eating, or using the bathroom, they cannot experience liberty until they have assistance. To really experience the basic freedoms of choice, of action, of association and of movement, some people with disabilities need the regular assistance of another human being.  In order to be free of the incarceration of institutions, some people with mental or cognitive disabilities need specialized training and supports in their homes and communities. In the last forty years we have learned how to secure the blessings of liberty for people with disabilities through government sponsored community based services, primarily through the Medicaid program. With these services people with disabilities have moved into homes and apartments of their choice, when they could afford it. They have directed the people who provide the supports they need and they have experienced real liberty for the first time. If the mission of government is to spread freedom and to promote liberty, there is no finer example of that mission than community based services for people with disabilities.  People deprived of freedom of movement and choice through no fault or action of their own, were finally liberated by redirecting government resources away from efforts to segregate and confine them, and into programs that liberate and free them.  We should not be surprised that this is less expensive than the institutional model.  In this case, freedom isn’t free, but it is a lot less expensive than the alternative. 
If we truly value freedom, if we truly want to “secure the blessings of liberty” for our citizens, we must preserve the programs that make that liberty possible.

2 thoughts on “Liberty and Disability

  1. Very well stated. Often times, the power of community based services (whether government-run or otherwise) go overlooked. You are right, however. They are instrumental in helping individuals experience liberty.

  2. The Civil Rights movement will have to be lead by people with Disabilities. There is too much conflict of interest involved on the part of State Ran Advocacy Agencies.

Comments are closed.