As Governor of California, Reagan signed the Lanterman Act in 1969, calling it a "a dynamic framework on which we shall build a comprehensive system" to assure that people with disabilities develop to their potential. He was right. The Lanterman Act was a visionary, landmark piece of legislation and the system it created has resulted in concrete and dramatic improvements affecting the quality of life of people with disabilities. The system's reliance on private businesses to provide the services (disclosure: I founded and run one of these businesses) has resulted in innovation and tremendous cost savings to the state.
Prior to the Lanterman Act, people with disabilities often ended up in state hospitals, called Developmental Centers, where inhumane conditions and treatment were all-too common. The Developmental Centers were expensive. They are expensive. (Reform is a slow process, and the state has just nearly finished shutting down the system entirely.) Community-based programs typically cost just a small fraction of what the Developmental Centers cost.
Follow me below the fold for more on why this entitlement program is under attack and facing nearly a billion dollar in cuts!
The system created by the Lanterman Act has affirmed the rights of people with disabilities, giving them choice and direction over their own lives. Today the system provides Californians with developmental disabilities an opportunity to grow in skills to make their own choices about their lives and to become members of the communities in which they live.
I think as we honor what would have been the 100th birthday of our 40th President, we should remember and respect his role in this accomplishment.
As a person with fairly progressive politics I find it an amusing irony that the man remembered for declaring that government was the problem (a bit of a misquote) also envisioned and helped create an entitlement program that has been wildly successful in the meeting the hopes and objectives laid out for it at the outset. I find it a bit of a perplexing irony that this great accomplishment, should be forgotten. Especially since its reliance on private businesses to provide the services offers validation to a core Republican plank.
It's a cruel irony that 42 years after Governor Reagan showed bipartisan support in California to create this system, there's now bipartisan support for cutting close to a billion dollars out of the Department of Disability Services Budget.
Update: To help clarify, I've added the Lanterman Act to the title of the diary.
Update 2: Here's a little background on the history of the Regional Center system in California for those who aren't familiar with these programs or are out of state. The true hero of the movement was California Assemblyman Frank Lanterman.
Update 3: So having gotten such a strong reaction in the comments below for having the temerity to praise Reagan for one of the times he did well, I decided to post at the Free Republic to see whether they could appreciate that their patron saint signed legislation that created an entitlement program. My post and related comments on other posts never made it past the review filter.
This truly is the Reagan that no one wants to remember. Media Matters and others can highlight that Reagan raised taxes, grew government, negotiated with terrorists, as they should do, but don't get blowback from the left. Apparently that is confrontational enough and doesn't fail the ideological purity test. Just don't try to expose that Reagan differed from the myth by recognizing that he actually helped create a worthy entitlement program in California. Apparently, that is too much for certain members of the "reality-based community."
Meanwhile the thought police on the right simply won't let such discordant information corrupt their site.
Definitely seeing things a bit different today. I'm not at all surprised that the Freepers aren't willing to see the myth surrounding their hero punctured by fact. I was hoping that Kossacks might respond by showing some concern for the quarter-million Californians with disabilities, whose lives will be affected adversely by the proposed cuts.