The Progress Center

1. The Progress Center Independence , Growth, Personal Challenges Freedom

2. There was a day when�

3. We did not understand

4. We did not treat

5. We ignored

6. We sent away

7. Even the children�..

8. Far away from home�

9. Even in Maine�..

10. When�. In 1908, the Maine School for the Feebleminded was opened. At that time, the term �feebleminded� was not considered offensive. In later years, it was renamed as the Pownal State School, then Pineland Hospital and Training Center, and finally Pineland Center.

11. At Pineland� Warehousing was in order. Buildings were designed to house 80, then 150 children in large open wards. The ultimate was achieved in 1950 with the opening of Bliss and Kupelian Halls, which allowed the admission of 479 more residents. By the mid-1950s the total resident population on the grounds was nearly 1500, and the total of those �on the books� was well above that number. Employees numbered only 240. There was unbelievable crowding, and conditions in the buildings for the severely and profoundly ambulatory retarded were truly unspeakable.

12. Because� in the 1970s by class action lawsuits on behalf of other minorities seen as mistreated or neglected, including people with physical or mental disabilities. Pineland was not exempt, and a suit was filed in Federal District Court in Portland in 1975 to improve conditions and treatment at the facility. In 1978, a detailed agreement � the Pineland Consent Decree �.people were protected.

13. Then finally� The last resident left Pineland, and it closed in June 1996. With the closure of Pineland, Maine joined New Hampshire and Vermont as the only states in the nation to have eliminated their large state institutions for people with mental retardation.

14. Freedom!!!!

15. Now� We believe�. that each person with a disability has a desire for a rich and varied life, including a physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual dimension.

16. Fun

17. Faith

18. Spirituality

19. And more spirituality

20. And Nature�

21. And�. We are guided by the wishes, hopes and dreams of the people we support

22. Big Wishes.

23. All wishes.

24. All dreams.

25. And hopes.

26. �Work, especially in our culture, plays another major role in the life of adults. It helps define who we are as well as enabling the full participation in the social fabric of our culture.� (The Research and Training Center,UCEDD, 2005)

27. For anyone who wishes to work.

30. We are here.

31. We support children and families�.

32. Elderly and...

33. Young.

34. In homes.

35. At Work.

36. It is about. promoting independence and freedom of choice