Another guest column - this time from the Concord Monitor in New Hampshire by Richard Cohen, who along with John MacIntosh represented the residents of Laconia State School and Bill Glahn the state defendants in the lawsuit, which was filed in April 1978 and decided in 1981.
Thirty-one years ago this month, we opposed one another in representing the residents of the Laconia State School and the state in Garrity v. Gallen, the lawsuit challenging conditions at that institution and the lack of adequate, community-based services for people with developmental disabilities.
While the legal interests of our clients diverged, the parties agreed on goals of the lawsuit: to redress inhumane conditions, end years of segregation and develop a system that enabled individuals to live and thrive with supports in the community.
There were parents who were understandably fearful that if the institution closed, there would be no place for their sons or daughters to go. Fears lessened and virtually disappeared as community placements occurred, families saw that individuals were far better off in the community, and state officials pledged to maintain comprehensive community services.
The state's pledge to maintain a community system was based on legal mandates and the fundamental moral obligation of government to provide support to those who need it throughout their lives, an obligation that has transcended political forces in New Hampshire.
Three decades later, this pledge and the mandates from the Laconia lawsuit are threatened by the House budget bills which risk recreating the conditions that led to the suit.
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