“Shall the Minnesota constitution be amended to require all voters to present valid photo identification to vote and to require the state to provide free identification to eligible voters, effective July 1, 2013?” As Minnesotans prepare to cast ballots in November on a constitutional amendment that would require voters to produce photo identification at the polling ...
Posts Tagged ‘Luther Granquist’
Changes removed barrier to community integration
The Minnesota Department of Human Services agreed in 2011 to develop a comprehensive plan to provide services for persons with disabilities in the “most integrated setting.” This plan, called an “Olmstead plan” in reference to a United States Supreme Court case that supported moving persons with disabilities out of institutions, was part of the settlement ...
Babies benefitted greatly from one doctor’s research
In October the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that the Minnesota Department of Health could not retain blood samples from the newborn baby screening program indefinitely or provide them to other researchers without consent from a baby’s parents. This ruling, however, did not affect the newborn screening requirement itself. This program was established in 1965 after ...
Court approves METO settlement agreement
After a two-hour hearing in federal district court on Thursday, Dec. 1, Judge Donovan Frank ordered final approval of the settlement of the class action lawsuit prompted by excessive use of restraint of residents of the Minnesota Extended Treatment Options (METO) in Cambridge. Parents of three METO residents brought this lawsuit in 2009 and sought ...
The little girl and the Great Communicator, years later
Thirty years ago, on Nov. 10, 1981, President Ronald Reagan told a story about an Iowa girl story at a press conference. “We just recently received word of a little girl who has spent most of her life in a hospital. The doctors are of the opinion that if she could be sent home and ...
Acting together is necessary
In 1995 Gov. Arne Carlson’s administration proposed to scale back the Tax Equity & Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 (TEFRA) program and to decimate personal care attendant (PCA) services. Dozens of persons with disabilities and their friends and family members, including the newly formed Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities, spoke out at the capitol and ...
Three women who did their part for children
Today, agencies provide most of the community-based services for persons with disabilities, generally supported by public funds. In the decades after the School for the Feebleminded opened at Faribault, however, three women, on their own and without public support, established the first group homes and day programs for persons with developmental disabilities.
In 1897, Laura Baker, ...
People and Places – April 2011
Granquist honored for advocacy
Luther Granquist, attorney for the Minnesota Disability Law Center (MLDC) for 36 years and a regular contributor to Access Press, was honored by The Arc Minnesota for his decades-long commitment to protecting and upholding the rights of people with developmental disabilities.
“Few people have impacted the lives of as many Minnesotans with developmental ...
Educable children
Advocacy groups, supportive members of the Minnesota Legislature, and a University of Minnesota professor collaborated to achieve approval by the 1957 legislature of a law, which mandated that schools provide “special instruction and services for handicapped children” considered “educable” according to standards of the state Department of Education. They also obtained approval of a law ...
Southwest State welcomed students with a broad spectrum of disabilities
Southwest Minnesota State was touted as a college intended to accommodate students with disabilities when it opened in Marshall in 1967. Howard Bellows, the first president of the college, came from Emporia State College in Kansas, one of the few state colleges designed to be accessible to students with physical disabilities. He framed the specialized ...
Families created the Worthington Crippled Children’s School
In the early 1950s, many children with physical disabilities were denied education in the public schools. Parents also lacked in-home support services and, often, any way to pay for needed therapies. At that time there were “hospital-schools” for “crippled” children in Illinois, Iowa, and the Dakotas. Although there were special schools for these children in ...
Fight for Human Rights was lengthy
The Minnesota House, in 1973, had approved a bill supported by Handi-Registration, a self-advocacy group seeking to protect the civil rights of persons with disabilities. The bill expanded coverage for persons with disabilities in all areas covered by the Minnesota Human Rights Act. The Senate, however, refused to extend coverage in public services to persons ...
Treatment of men was unspeakably cruel, painful
Editor’s note: The topic of this month’s History Note, while important in the context of past treatment of people with disabilities in state institutions, may be offensive to some readers.
Dr. Samuel Shantz, the first superintendent of Minnesota’s Hospital for the Insane at St. Peter, thanked God in his report to the Board of Trustees ...
Conscientious objectors, media exposés, and institutional reform brought change for many
Editor’s note: Access Press uses its 20th anniversary issue history note to salute others who have used the news media to call for change.
During World War II, more than 3,000 conscientious objectors (COs) worked without pay in Civilian Public Service units established in 43 state mental hospitals and 15 state training schools, none of which ...
Restraints were just plain wrong back then, too
[caption id="attachment_1892" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Minnesota State reformatory -1933"][/caption]
METO, the Minnesota Extended Treatment Option at Cambridge, opened in 1999 to serve persons with developmental disabilities who present a risk to public safety. Last September, the Ombudsman for Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities documented excessive use of restraints at the program in a report, Just Plain Wrong. ...
Lobotomies were ‘suitable’ treatment
In 1949, a neurosurgeon from the Mayo Clinic and the Superintendent of Rochester State Hospital wrote that prefrontal lobotomy was generally recognized as a suitable treatment of certain types of mental illness when more conservative measures failed to produce permanent results. A prefrontal lobotomy involved cutting nerve fibers of the frontal lobe of the brain, ...
February 1997 Issue
Articles/Contributors: Does Governor Care? His Words Don't Say So, by Charlie Smith Unlawful Practices Reduce PCA Hours, by Luther Granquist Editor’s Column, by Charlie Smith Since Christopher Reeve. . . by Charlie Smith The "Dance Program Inclusive," by LeAnne Dahl Much to Give, Deaconess Jeanne Dicke Coping With Stress, by CeCe Chamber Hello Nicole, by Nicole More 1997 Legislative Issues, by Tom Brick Here’s the ...
January 1996 Issue
Articles/Contributors: DHS Taken to Task: PCA Task Force - A DHS Set-Up? by Luther Granquist A Great Loss, by Michael Sheehan Setting the Stage for Change, by Mark Wilde Editor's Column, by Charlie Smith Proposted Legislation for Personal Care Attendant (PCA) Serviceson of Inclusion, by Anne Henry Hello Nicole, by Nicole Beyond the Ramp, by LeAnne Dahl Wishing - and Working! - for Independence, ...
November 1994 Issue
Contributors: Department of Human Services Stalls: Rules Changes May Yet Proceed - Vigilance is Necessary, by Luther Granquist The Future of Metro Mobility, by John Walsh Editor’s Column, Charlie Smith Beware and Wary of Junk Mail, by Eunice McClurg Hello Nicole, by Nicole Diversity Takes Effort, by Clark Morphew Life Goes On, by LeAnne Dahl Revised Eyeglass Service Rule, by Anne Henry The Power of To: by Gordon ...
October 1994 Issue
Contributors: Department of Human Services-Proposes Major Changes in Medical Assistance Rules, by Luther Granquist Metro Mobility Service: Quality Needs to Remain a Priority, by Charlie Smith Editor’s Column, Charlie Smith Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome: Beyond CFIDS, by Marjory Aldrich MOVIE REVIEW: "When Billy Broke His Head. . ." is a Winner, by Jeff Nygaard Hello Nicole, by Nicole Parenting God's Angels, ...
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