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The problem one encounters is twofold. On the one hand, many disabled people have never had a chance to learn how to make a decision; further, both parents and professional workers have been so convinced that the handicapped person is unable to make decisions that they are apt to hinder rather than further such attempts. Yet progress is being made everywhere. If only time would permit, I could tell you about a group of persons with cerebral palsy, confined -- quite inappropriately -- in an institution for the retarded, who managed to appear before a legislative committee pleading for funds so they could move into the community. I could tell you about a group of severely, multiply handicapped men with epilepsy who, after long years in an institution, are now living in a community group home, without house staff, largely managing their own affairs. I could tell you about the succinct criticism a group of Swedish developmentally disabled young people brought forth regarding many aspects of their programs as planned by a benevolent, sympathetic administration.

One of the main features of our revised developmental disabilities legislation is a Protection and Advocacy system. Here, too, other countries have not developed as formal a program as we have, but advocacy and the related activity of monitoring are significant features in many countries.

In Norway each county has a monitoring team of 6 persons, two of whom are to be selected by the parent associations; the British Spastics Society has been an outstanding, effective monitor of governmental action; and the Dutch Cerebral Palsy Society, several years ago spun off all direct services in order to give its full attention to advocacy and monitoring.

In this area too there is now direct involvement of the handicapped people themselves. In Denmark, for instance, by government regulation every facility serving handicapped persons must arrange monthly meetings to give the clients an opportunity to register complaints, ask questions, make suggestions. Minutes must be kept and must indicate how matters were followed up.

To some of you the matters I have presented may appear unduly optimistic if not altogether unrealistic. What needs to be stressed is that in education, and in rehabilitation, we are now making progress even with the most severely multiply handicapped individuals.

And one further comment needs to be made. So many of our past views were based on the performance of severely disabled persons who had not received proper medical attention, and not even minimal schooling or socializing experiences. It is obviously totally inappropriate to make our projection into the future based on the results of unjustified deprivations of the past.

In focusing on our topic today, Developmental Disabilities, I have had to draw of necessity on examples from countries whose perception of these problems and whose practical approaches are fairly similar to ours in the USA. I would not want to leave you with the impression that there is little going on in countries such as Spain, where the International Cerebral Palsy Society will be meeting in June, or Egypt, where the government has an active concern in adolescents with mental retardation and cerebral palsy -- adolescents so often left out of rehabilitation schemes. In Africa, Christine Kenyatta, daughter of Kenya's late President, has focused attention on the whole area of special education. Ghana's voluntary association for the mentally handicapped began its work by establishing in 1970 a home for severely handicapped children who had been vegetating in a mental hospital. In the large cities we have visited in Brazil we saw good medical rehabilitation facilities for children with cerebral palsy and with epilepsy.

For those of you interested in a broad gauged approach to rehabilitation there are interesting developments to report from countries such as France, Germany, Sweden, and Australia, which have strong, government supported coordinating councils involving all the disabilities.

Further and finally, the topic as formulated did not give me a chance to report on the great contributions made by the United Nations, its Specialized Agencies such as the World Health Organization, UNESCO, the International Labor Organization, and, last but not least, the work of the international voluntary organizations which have banded together in the Council of World Organizations Interested in the Handicapped, known as CWOIH.

This is the International Year of the Child, proclaimed by the United Nations and promoted by UNICEF through all UN member governments. 1981 has been proclaimed the International Year for Disabled Persons, promotion being organized through UN's Division of Social Affairs, so I sincerely hope there will be opportunities for you to become acquainted with the broad range of the international agencies and their work, and their hopes for a world which recognizes that "it is normal to be different."