 Today, our society values that people with disabilities have a right to belong, a right to participate, a responsibility to give back to their community, and communities have a responsibility to include all people as valued members. This hasn't always been the case. In the late 1960s, the few available options for people with disabilities in California were limited to placements in state hospitals, segregated schools, and sheltered workshops. Overcrowding and waiting lists for even these most basic services led to a dream and the creation of new choices. As the lead agency responsible for carrying out the Lanterman Developmental Disability Services Act, the Department of Developmental Services continues to work toward positive changes. The combination of the Lanterman Act and these dreams have led to many increased opportunities. It has been the power of dreams over the years that sets the pace and sustains people throughout their journey toward inclusive lives. By their ability to create diversity, communities which include all people as fully participating citizens are strengthened. In an inclusive community, everyone benefits. We have had a lot of people with us as four people share their stories, their dreams, and their journey toward being included in their community. After little Rebecca was born, she was resuscitated once and on life support for six days as the doctors explained to her parents that she probably wasn't going to make it. And if she did, she would have no quality of life. We had made a personal decision to take off life support to end her life. She was supposed to die in her arms in ten minutes. Somehow she had stopped breathing twice, caught her breath both times and from there we went through the day and about ten o'clock that night we put her to bed, we kissed her good night and literally she opened her eyes and started moving her arms and legs and crying. Every day since then, Rebecca has been a fighter and a worker. She works very, very hard to do everything that all the other kids want to do. With all the challenges we've had, we've just looked back and see Rebecca and see how hard she had to work to get here and how hard she has to work for everything. So when we have to fight with insurance companies and fight with this and fight with that for her, it's easy because we have a role model to lead us. Well with Rebecca for inclusion, to me it's being a child and being alive. She's a child, she's five years old. She has every right to be a five year old, to go to school, to play with her siblings, to sit up, to stand, to walk and I can't deny her of it. She wants to do all the things that other kids want to do. She wants to walk all the time. All of a sudden it's come up, she found she could do it and she wants to walk all the time. You know, if Rebecca can work so hard to do so little, I think I can enjoy this and get through this. She's always teaching us something new. She's teaching us every day. Don't expect your therapist, your physicians or everyone to know your child like you do. They say this is the best thing for your child. I could just say okay, she's never going to walk, she's never going to stand. You got to look beyond that, you got to look at her as she's a human being. Rebecca's going to be the best Rebecca can be. I look at her future as being very, very open. I really cannot tell you what she's going to do. I think it's going to be great whatever she does, I'll be the proudest dad in the world. But her future is going to be everything that she wants it to be. We always thought it was important for her to be included. I think being included has made all the difference in his life for all of us, really. He's allowed us to participate in the regular school community as well. It's allowed his sister to be involved with him more. I don't think he would have the goals that he has if he hadn't been included. Aaron, now in high school, is among the first students in California who's been fully included in his neighborhood schools since preschool. In fourth grade, his special ed teacher took him to someone who was familiar with facilitated communication and came back that afternoon with tears in her eyes saying, watch this, this is wonderful, look what Aaron has done. I hope to go to college. I'd like to go to UC Davis because it's a good school and it's in my hometown. I want to study everything in college. Aaron has always demonstrated that there are plenty of things that he can do. We just have to figure out ways to give him the opportunity to do it. It's certainly important to keep an open mind about all of the possibilities that might be there. I like to write and sometimes I think I want to be a writer, but it is a very slow process for me. E-O-B-L. For the job where I can make a difference to people. I think it's very important to just keep exploring and see what you can find. It's interesting. It's very exciting all the time. He's taking the regular courses. He's taking introduction to calculus right now and he's taking chemistry and he's taken all the English courses. He's done a lot and so this year he's, as a junior, taken the SAT test. Even though it's very slow, the way he has to indicate his answers and so on is a very slow process, but given a little extra time to complete it, he really did well and got a very nice score, 1200, which years ago we couldn't have possibly imagined that he would ever do something like that and it's very exciting. I think it's given him a motivation and a confidence that he can compete successfully and that he can do things that others can do and that they like him and that he can just participate and be part of the community and that seems to be what his goal is. I have been successful in school because I have had great teachers, A, and friends. I also have a great family. Everybody always has helped me be included and participate. Everybody should have dreams. Dreams is important to people. At an early age, Spencer dreamed of living on his own and supporting himself by becoming an artist. As the youngest of ten boys, Spencer was raised in New Orleans. At age 14, his mother died and it was at that time he chose to live on his own and support himself through Catholic High School. He eventually moved out to a rural Northern California community where he has become an accomplished artist and a leader in the self-advocacy movement. Spencer lives by the philosophy of his mother. My mama said when I get to heaven, they're not going to ask me what I did for me. They're going to ask me what I did for other people. I'm really a part of this community. It doesn't matter what, you know, if I had a disability or not, but I really feel that they welcome me. For Spencer, community life includes working, spirituality, teaching, and socializing. These are elements of a balanced life. My women is a part of my life. As an artist, Spencer supports himself through the sale of this work and has reached another goal of being a teacher. I had a dream of being a teacher. I like working with the students because most of them are very fun people to work with. Another important aspect of Spencer's life is his church, where he takes an active role and attends Mass daily. I just love my church because it's a powerful thing. When going to Mass every day, it's like, I kind of feel like it's a new beginning. It's a good morning start. Back in New Orleans, Spencer began laying the foundation for his leadership and advocacy. Because kids kept picking on us and calling us dummies and stupid and retarded, and we would go to the principal and tell the principal, and the principal wouldn't do anything about it, so we kind of like organized our own people first, little group. That made a big difference. As president of his local People First chapter, Spencer is an active leader. I want other people to know they have rights, how to speak up for yourself, how to be strong and powerful, how to help other people be a leader. To be a leader, you have more possibility. Spencer continues on the journey of his dreams. Today my dream would be, I want to be married again, adopt a kid, own my own car, have my own house, then my, you know, them is the most important thing to me right now. If I can get one of them done, I'm okay. Everybody have a dream. I would say the success would be do your best that you can, and once you do that, you can do anything. And someone told my dad about Sonoma State Home because they didn't have any school for people like me. They called us feeble-minded in those days. They did not have programs like they do today, besides I lived in the mountains. My mom had her hands full with four little kids and no help with them. We were very poor. That's why my dad took me to Sonoma. I was 10 years old. They put me on a ward with kids my age until they gave me an IQ test. After my test, they put me with the older people and my type of people. I met two crippled girls. Ruth lived there for 30 years. In her 40s, Ruth was finally able to move out of Sonoma Developmental Center. For the next 10 years, she moved from community placement to community placement, with no control over where she would live and with no real dream of what she wanted her life to look like. In her 50s, Ruth was moved into a skilled nursing facility. She lived there for the next 12 years, where she became friends with Laura. Ruth and I met, we were like a team and we eventually moved out. Ruth was introduced to capital people first and the self-advocacy movement. For more than 50 years, Ruth lived in institutions. Today, she is in control of how she spends each day and participates in the community as she wishes. She is living her dreams and at the age of 75, truly enjoys her life as a member of her community. Ruth wants people with disabilities to continue on, even after she's gone. I have reached the Golden Age. I have lived two lives. Maybe that's the reason I was put down here. People with disabilities across all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds are being fully included in community services, from preschools to senior centers. As a wider array of support services are available, we move from segregated schools to neighborhood classrooms, from sheltered employment to competitive jobs, and from institutions to living options in the community. Everyone has a right to live in a community in which diversity is celebrated, partnerships are developed, and choices are respected. We hope that this video has provided you with the inspiration and courage to spark your dreams and start your journey. It's never too early or too late. It is the power of dreams that can truly lead to the journey to inclusive lives.