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The
Self-Advocacy Board of Directors at our October 28th, 2004 SA Board
meeting developed the following statement. This statement
represents the opinion and position of our State Association in regards
to options for restoring the dignity of people who are buried in
numbered but unnamed graves at Developmental Centers and other
institutions.
SA is part of a group, which is addressing this issue at cemeteries at
Wassaic and Letchworth. The group is called the 1033 Group. The
opinions below reflect SA’s views about these cemeteries as well
as other cemeteries across New York. |
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1.
We believe that a plaque should be put up at every cemetery on
institutional grounds in NY State where people with developmental
disabilities are buried in unnamed graves. The plaque should name all
of the individuals buried there and their date of birth and
death. We support a general plaque with all the names as opposed
to an individual grave marker for a number of reasons but most
importantly because a general plaque acknowledges the people who are
buried at a cemetery and preserves the historical treatment that people
received, which is something that we as a society can never forget or
undo. |
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The
plaque should be enhanced with a flowerbed and a prominent announcement
board that lists a website (see below) where people could find out more
information about the history of institutions in New York.
We also feel that friends and families of people buried at these
cemeteries should be encouraged and allowed to place gravestones with
names on their loved one’s graves. |
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2.
We support the development of a website and museum exhibit based on the
theme “We can never forget”, that details the history of
people’s lives in various New York State institutions and
developmental centers, including information about the fact that people
were buried in unnamed graves. |
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3.
We would also like to develop a curriculum to teach about these issues
that would be available to the high schools, colleges, and the general
community. It is our hope the young people with disabilities and
the general community will know the history of institutional life so
that we can assure that it never happens again. This could be a
possible project for members of our speaker’s bureau. The
curriculum could also be on SA’s website. |
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4.
We intend to work to broaden our partnerships with groups across the
state interested in this issue to include provider organizations,
parent groups, Colleges and Universities, other groups of people with
disabilities, and local communities where the cemeteries are located. |
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We
believe that what we propose above can be done without a huge amount of
government funding; in fact some private funds could also be
sought. We also believe these things can be done without
legislation or change in the Mental Hygiene laws governing
confidentiality. We
believe there is no viable argument to prohibit people’s names
from being placed on a plaque that acknowledges that people who lived
at a given institution were buried in unnamed graves there. |
