Joan Collins Daly

I have known some very brave people over the course of a lifetime. My C.O. in the

Marines was decorated as a kid on Saipan. Our sergeant got the Silver Star at the

Yalu River. In the old neighborhood, the local bartender's kid died winning the

Medal of Honor in Vietnam. But pound for pound, nobody I know has got more guts

than sweet and demure Joan Daly.

She's a shadow of herself these days. She's north of ninety years and well south of

ninety pounds. I never knew her in her prime. But from fifteen years experience,

there's no finer friend or fiercer adversary. It all depends on your attitude and,

actions towards people with disabilities.

She's been battling for special needs people and programs for well over fifty years.

It all started when some well intentioned "professionals" advised her to put her baby

daughter in an institution and get on with her life. Joan never quit on anything. And

she wasn't going to start with her darling Patricia.

Instead, she became a trailblazer for mothers faced with the same tragic option. She

initiated special education programs in New York schools. She moved to Florida and

founded the Boca Raton Habilitation Center, which provides productive employment

for 215 special people, including Patricia. She founded Nazareth Homes in Boca,

group homes for 18 challenged residents, including Patricia.

You can sum up her accomplishments in a brief paragraph. But it does not do justice

to her years and years of advocating, litigating, fund raising, defending and never,

ever quitting. Joan is unique. But she is not alone. There are thousands of mothers

and fathers across Florida who have fought for too long and too hard to roll over in

the face of the current legislative assault. They have fought the odds and the bullies

before. They won't quit now.

This time the bullies are not resisting change, they are initiating it . They are

heartless bean-counters dismantling the modicum of services built over decades of

struggle. They mask their cruelty in the rhetoric of fiscal responsibility. So it's back

to the legislative barricades for Joan and those of us who love the least able to defend

themselves. Please help us. Call vour Florida State Senator and Representative. Tell

them to restore the cuts. Then do it again. Don't quit fighting.

Bill Muir, Boca Raton, father of John Muir, a 28-year old with cerebral palsy,

autism and quadriplegia, living at home.