The Center on Human Policy

WHAT IS THE CENTER ON HUMAN POLICY?

The Center on Human Policy (CHP) is a Syracuse University based policy, research, and advocacy organization involved in the national movement to insure the rights of people with disabilities. Since its founding, the Center has been involved in the study and promotion of open settings (inclusive community opportunities) for people with disabilities.

The Center's staff and associates include educators, human services professionals, people with disabilities, graduate students, and family members of children and youth with disabilities. The Center has an Advocacy Board composed of people with disabilities, parents, and interested citizens that serves as an independent voice on behalf of the rights of people with disabilities in the community.

The Center is involved with a broad range of local, statewide, national and international activities, including policy studies, research, information and referral, advocacy, training and consultation, and information dissemination.

PHILOSOPHY

A core set of values guides the Center on Human Policy. These include the following beliefs:

All people with disabilities are entitled to inclusive education, living, employment, and leisure opportunities.
All people with disabilities have the right to live in their own communities and pursue their own lifestyles.
People with disabilities should play a central role in the design, operation, and monitoring of the support they receive.
All people in society share the responsibility to create inclusive communities.
The work of creating inclusive communities and an open society is not essentially a matter of resources but how we think about people who have disabilities.

"It is through this Center and the staff he selected and guided and to whom he entrusted its future, that Burton Blatt will continue to be heard-will continue to challenge us to move forward on the road he so clearly outlined for us."

--Gunnar Dybwad

HISTORY

The Center was founded in 1971 in response to widespread abuse of and discrimination against people with disabilities in society. The Center's philosophy and activities grew out of the institutional exposés of is founder and first director, Burton Blatt. The Center on Human Policy's priorities and activities have progressed over the years to meet the evolving challenges facing people with disabilities. During its early years, Center staff members confronted the mass warehousing of children with disabilities and school exclusion through investigations, community education, legal advocacy, and the development of model programs.

Today, the staff devotes attention to promoting inclusive education, employment opportunities, and full community participation for people with disabilities.

Throughout its history, the Center has been deeply involved in strengthening disability and parent groups and creating positive attitudes toward people who have disabilities.

Though the Center stands as an independent entity apart from funded grants and contracts, it has received funding from a broad range of private and public sources.

ADVOCACY

Center staff and Board members use a wide range of advocacy strategies, including negotiations, press relations, investigations, letter- writing, and community education, and collaboration with attorneys and legal rights groups.

A major focus of the Center is on community organizing, supporting people with disabilities and their families to act on their own behalf. Staff members work with and advise a large number of disability and parent groups and are continually involved in promoting self-determination for people with disabilities.

The Center's Advocacy Board is an independent presence in the community. Over the years, the Advocacy Board has spoken out on a range of critical issues affecting people with disabilities in the Syracuse area and throughout New York State. In recent years, the Board has addressed such pressing issues as accessible public transportation, the quality of community services, institutional abuse, segregated educational programs, and housing and support services for people with disabilities. One of the most effective strategies the Board has adopted is the creation of community-wide coalitions around specific advocacy issues.

During its early years, the Center filed a number of lawsuits on behalf of children with disabilities who had been denied their right to an appropriate education. The Center works closely with a number of private and public interest lawyers to address legal problems confronting people with disabilities and their families. While lawsuits are a dramatic side of advocacy, the Center's staff has found nonlegal strategies, especially negotiations, press conferences, and public demonstrations effective in bringing about major policy shifts and program changes.

INFORMATION

Through its funded projects, the Center on Human Policy provides information nationally to people with disabilities, their families, professionals, and the general public. These projects, which are staffed by parents as well as professionals, offer personalized support, referral, consultation, and follow-up, in addition to working with local agencies to develop local services.

"We need to empty the institutions. The quicker we accomplish that goal the quicker we will be able to repair the damage done to generations of innocent inmates. The quicker we get about converting our ideologies and resources to a community model, the quicker we will learn how to forget what we perpetuated in the name of humanity."

--Burton Blatt

RESEARCH

Center researchers have studied educational programs and policies, institutional life, inclusive community life (home, school, employment and friendships), the life experiences of people with disabilities, and a variety of other issues.

Center staff members rely heavily on qualitative research, which includes participant observation, in-depth interviewing, and analysis of archival materials. The Center is also involved in important policy studies on major issues confronting people with disabilities.

TRAINING AND CONSULTATION

The Center on Human Policy has always regarded community education and training as important to its mission. Center staff members provide technical assistance to a variety of groups on the international, national, state, and local levels. As part of Syracuse University, faculty members at the Center offer a variety of courses. The Center also sponsors community forums presented by leaders in education, law, human services, and the humanities.

PUBLICATIONS

Through the Human Policy Press and the Community Integration Report Series, the Center has become a major influence in fostering positive attitudes toward people with disabilities, and continues as a strong voice for the full inclusion of people with disabilities in the community.

Through distribution of publications and posters, the Center has a goal to improve society's literacy about disabilities by demonstrating that the greatest obstacles faced by people with disabilities are societally imposed.