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MNLEND Alum Looks Back
Andrea Lawson (MNLEND fellow, 2024–25) connects her appointment last year to Minnesota's African American Health State Advisory Council to her ongoing master’s degree studies in maternal and child health.
"LEND taught me that I’m stronger than I know," said Lawson, whose child has a rare genetic condition.
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Impact Remembers Deinstitutionalization
ICI's Impact magazine recalls that about 50 years ago, many people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities (IDD) lived in large institutions that were “derelict backwaters plagued by overcrowding, inadequate staffing, abuse, and appalling neglect.” But in the 1970s, the media began exposing the deplorable conditions, researchers argued that people with IDD should be supported to live in their communities, and the laws changed, leading to deinstitutionalization. The institutionalized population declined dramatically and community living became the new norm.
Learn more about deinstitutionalization—one of the 40 big ideas explored in this issue of Impact.
ICI: 40 Years of Community Living
"The country could learn a lot" from the movement to include people with disabilities in the community, Special Olympics Chairman Tim Shriver (pictured at right) said at ICI's 40th anniversary event. Minnesota First Lady Gwen Walz (left) and ICI Director Amy Hewitt (center) agreed. But, pointing to federal funding cuts and layoffs, Hewitt cautioned that progress doesn't guarantee permanence.
