Louisiana: The State We're In; 749

Funding for the production of Louisiana: The State We're In is provided in part by the Zigler Foundation of Jennings and Gulf States Utilities, helping Louisiana bridge the gap to our energy future. Tomorrow the great celebration begins, the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition. Fair officials admit there are still some finishing touches to be done, but the show will go on. [Theme music] [Theme music] Good evening. I'm Ken Johnson. And I'm Robyn Ekings. Thanks for joining us for Friday's edition of Louisiana: The State We're In. Well, Robyn, the countdown is on. In just a matter of hours now, the gates will swing open, the bands will begin playing, and the great celebration will be underway, the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition. Today a visit to the World's

Fair site in New Orleans was like a visit to a frenzied dress rehearsal just before opening night, but fair officials insist everything will be finished in time and the show will go on. At the site, there's the smell of new paint and freshly laid asphalt. Engineers armed with blueprints and pencils can be seen scurrying back and forth from one uncompleted concession stand to another. Workers in hard hats are busy preparing the world's largest Ferris wheel for its load of 340 riders. Five thousand workers and all are racing to beat the deadline. Some people see it as mass confusion, but fair officials say it's just the nature of the business. Today legislators took the day off and headed for New Orleans where they will get a sneak peek of the festivities. As you know, without a $10 million loan by the Legislature, the fair might not have opened, but that controversy is in the past. House Speaker John Alario believes the Louisiana Fair will be a six-month party, a party like no one has ever seen before. I think it's going to be tremendous. It's a $350 million undertaking with private funds and some

state help and some local government help. But overall it's going to be a tremendous event. You've been closely involved with the fair. Do you have any advice for other states who might be thinking of getting involved in World's Fair with the talk that's gone on, with the money problems in the construction and all the questions about, is it going to be a success. Any advice? The advice I would give them would be to make sure they have some contingency funds available. And you're sure that there's going to be enough coming in to get that state loan paid back on time? Well I think that's...we're going to get the state loan back without any problem. The way that's set up with the $40 million behind it, I don't think we'll have any problems getting the $10 million. Not everyone is so optimistic. Louis Rukeyser, one of television's leading economic analysts and host of Wall Street Week seen here on LPB, was in Louisiana this week. He said the Fair may be fun, but in all likelihood it will also be a losing proposition from a box office standpoint. Well, I don't want to pretend to be an expert on the economics of the World's Fair because I haven't studied it. In Knoxville they claim that they came out ahead. Most of them have not come out

ahead. New York was a conspicuous example of a losing effort. There are spin-off benefits. There will certainly be tourism benefits for Louisiana. There will be inconveniences to citizens of Louisiana. Be harder to get into restaurants and hotels. That will be okay if you run a restaurant or a hotel. On balance I'd like to look at the sheet at the end of the year, but I go in with the knowledge that most World's Fairs lose money. That may be true but then again this is Louisiana and losing a little money isn't likely to dampen anyone's spirits when it comes to a party. So we thought we'd take you to the fair site for one last look before the fair swings open its gates and the great celebration begins. [Music] [Music]

[Music] [Music] You know, Robyn, there are still a lot of little things that have to be done, but I feel like House Speaker

Alario. I think that people are going to be surprised at how nice this fair is and I think it's going to be a heck of a party. You know, Ken, I'm really looking forward to it myself. But you know in the Legislature, the legislators return next week. There's certainly going to be a lot of work to do with nearly 3,000 bills and resolutions on file. And very few having been started through the legislative process. There will be plenty to do here in Baton Rouge. One issue that is certain to generate a great deal of debate and emotion is one that calls for a sort of bill of rights for the mentally handicapped. Supporters of the measure say this type of legislation is long overdue. There was a time in Louisiana, like in most other states, when the mentally handicapped, those people who were considered retarded, schizophrenic or manic depressives, were warehoused in public and private institutions and for the most part forgotten.

No future. No hope. No life. At least the way we know it. The least that was said about the mentally ill, the better. But times are changing. More and more people all across Louisiana are recognizing mental illness as a disease, a disease of the brain that is crying out for attention and research, a disease that we all should be concerned about, just as concerned as we are about diabetes, MS and cancer. Why? Well, for one thing, it could strike any of us at any time. One out of every ten people in Louisiana are affected by mental illness in some way. Consider for a minute how you would feel if your brain suddenly began playing tricks on you, if you lost the capacity to feel emotions or reason logically, if friends and relatives avoided you. Mental illness is a cruel disease and for the most part a misunderstood one. Do you feel the public understands the word mentally ill? No, Ken, I don't. I think it's more, it's a fear. It's not an understanding. I think they hear mental illness and not only do they not

understand, but they associate danger, fear, people that are unpleasant and I think it's just due to a lack of knowledge about the illness. These people are concerned about the problem. They are the Friends Alliance for the Mentally Ill. Together they're trying to convince the Legislature to adopt a sort of bill of rights for the mentally handicapped, assuring them of medical attention, housing, job training, health benefits and more money for research into the causes and treatment of mental illness. Friends Alliance for the Mentally Ill is a nonprofit corporation that was formed about five years ago, primarily for the purpose of assisting the chronically mentally ill who are released from the mental hospitals and are released back into society, into the community. We try to provide employment through transitional employment training, education and, as an adjunct of that, we try to educate the public as to the problems of the mentally ill:

what problems they face and what the community can do to help the mentally ill. This week, the Alliance met with state senators Fritz Windhorst and Hank Lauricella and State Representatives Mary Landrieu and Jim Donelon in a question-answer forum moderated by Louisiana Public Broadcasting. One big concern is the disparity in allocation of research funds. For example, last year the federal government spent $168 on research for every cancer patient while only $5 was spent on every patient considered mentally ill. Yet tragically there are seven times the number of mental illness cases as there are cancer cases. Obviously there's a stigma attached to the word. Mentally ill connotes various things to various people. Anytime that you pick up a newspaper or in any media and the newspaper indicates the person is a formerly mentally ill individual, you get a negative feedback. This makes it very, very difficult for a recovered mentally ill

individual to obtain employment. How do you overcome that stigma of mental illness? That's been the hardest thing that, I guess, we have tried to do because the public does not understand then the stigma just seems to be forever present. I guess the only way, really, would be to begin educating the public, the families, the news media, everybody. But if there's such a fear connected with mental illness, how do you convince people that there really should not be such a fear? I have a wonderful statistic to answer that. I just spoke with the National Institute of Mental Health in Washington, trying to prepare for, you know, educating the people particularly at this meeting. And one of the most interesting, interesting statistics is that a mentally ill person is not any more dangerous than you or I or the average citizen. You know, you bulk 100 people together and if 20 of them are mentally ill, those 20 are not going to be any more dangerous than another 20. This is national statistics, present statistics, which I think that alone should

calm the public and not fear so much somebody that is mentally ill. The mentally ill represent just part of the problem here in Louisiana. There's also the mentally retarded, people who seem to be stalled going nowhere in a fast moving world. Again there was a time when the mentally retarded, like the mentally ill, were warehoused in institutions. The big goal was to teach the retarded to feed themselves and to put on their own clothes. But that philosophy is changing, too. Take Park School in Kenner. The administrators and teachers here work with handicapped people anywhere from six months to 60 years old, helping them try to find their own place in the world. Well the whole thing was if you could potty train a child or you could teach him to feed himself, you were doing good. If you taught the child to sit up, if he could just sit in a corner and be good and not give you too much trouble then you had succeeded at something. But you don't buy that? I never did. I have two handicapped kids of my own and there's no way I'm going to spend my entire life carrying two kids around, one on each hip, feeding them and treating them like vegetables.

They're human beings and they deserve to be treated like human beings. Claudia, in teaching handicapped children, special children, what's the most important quality that you have to have? Is it patience? It's patience and knowledge, understanding, love. You need to teach them basic reading and writing and depends on the level they're on. Learning alphabets, numbers, fine motor and gross motor skills, independent living skills. Well obviously it takes them a little longer to learn. They're a little bit slower. But do you notice improvement in them over the weeks, the years? Yes, you do notice improvement. I mean it's not like a normal child; you may notice improvement in one day. It may take you three weeks just to teach them one letter, but you see it. When they learn that letter, it has to bring a big smile to your face. My face and their face, too, because they know that they have a hard time doing things, and when they get it they're just as happy as I am, I think. Andrea, you're a freshman in college. Is this the first time you've ever worked with special kids? Oh yes, it is. This is the first time that I've ever done this before. It has to be an experience for you. Yes, it is. It's a very

nice experience. It's made me realize that this is probably what I want to do when I'm get, when I get out of college because the children...they just make you realize that you can do things with them, you know, do things to get them to get better at them. They make you realize you can help them to reach a goal that otherwise they wouldn't be provided with. We treat these children just like they were any other children. Also the adults. We take them from babies all the way through adults. We teach them like they can learn, just like anybody else. We expect them to learn. We don't, we don't take it easy on them because they're special people. They're special in that it may take them a little longer to learn what, what you and I can learn rather, rather quickly. But eventually, I mean the goal is the same thing. The goal is to get all of these people as close to normal as possible. They have to live in a normal world and they have to compete in a normal world with normal people. The rest of the world is not going to slow

down for them. I, L, Lion. The big question: Will the Legislature do anything about the problem this year? Joining us in our studio tonight is State Representative Mary Landrieu of New Orleans who has handled some of the legislation in the past. Mary, I suppose right now, one thing that I'm not real sure about is just how would a quote unquote bill of rights for the mentally handicapped work? This bill that we have is going to be an inclusion bill. It's going to attempt to include the mentally ill and the protections that are already given for some of our other handicapped people in the state of Louisiana, those that are physically ill and those are physically handicapped or the mentally retarded are already covered by broad protections of the civil rights. But when that bill was passed, the mentally ill was specifically excluded from those protections, which I think is unfair. And we're going to attempt to change that this year. What kind of protections exactly are we talking about? What things do they need? Protections in employment, Robyn, and housing basically are the two major protections so that, you know, we are prohibited if

this would pass from discriminating against someone in housing or employment or in other areas simply because they are mentally ill. Last year we had attempted to because there was some argument about the term mentally ill and what that means, whether it's a chronic illness. We have attempted to define a mentally ill person as someone who is mentally ill, was mentally ill, but is now restored and can prove either with papers from a physician or a psychiatrist that this person while once had a problem with it is under medication and treatment and can act without harm to themselves or the community. Well, I know you attended a seminar that I was at recently and there really is a very broad-based concern about the problem in Louisiana and people are very outspoken about it. Ken, I personally feel that most people are very frightened of the term mental, mental illness. We don't know a lot about it. There's not a lot of cure for it. That's not to say that it's incurable, but you know people suffer with mental illness all their life and it's so complicated and so complex and

I'm not a professional that can go into the technicalities of it. But basically I think it's a fear of the public when dealing with mental illness and those people who are mentally ill and those people who have loved ones that are mentally ill are beginning a real grassroots movement in the state to try to educate lawmakers and the public about mental, mental illness so that we don't need to be afraid of it. And I'm hoping to do what I can to stay in the forefront of that movement because I think it's something that we desperately need. You think that feeling is reflected in the legislature? Bills like this always seem to have a difficult time and talking about trying to work out a definition. They always seem to generate quite a lot of debate. Well there's great concern about it. They say the argument is how can you force an employer to hire someone who is mentally ill. And their definition of mentally ill automatically means that that person is not competent to do the job. But, but my argument is when someone is competent and in every way can do the job, just because they have had a history of mental illness doesn't mean that they should be prevented from employment or from housing

because they're mentally ill. Now if they cannot handle the job, if they can't do the work, then of course they shouldn't be hired or retained if they had once been hired. But if you have to indicate on forms, you know, are you under treatment by a doctor, many forms ask that. And a lot of times people who are mentally ill have to go in and out for treatment fairly regularly, if not every day, every other day or every week and their employer sees their record of work and sees them leaving an hour early on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Why are you leaving? Well, I'm going to treatment for clinic for treatment and they don't want to have to lie on their forms to try to get excuses for leaving work. So that is a part of the problem that the community of the mentally ill is having, and this bill would address that: to say that you can't fire someone just because they're seeking treatment and getting their medicine if they're doing the job otherwise that you should make reasonable accommodations for them. One thing though, Mary, while there are still loopholes in the law, it does appear Louisiana has gone a long way since the dark days of mental illness in the state. Oh yes.

We have gone, we have gone far -- not as far as we should in dealing with the handicapped citizens in our state. You know, for many years all we did was warehouse the handicapped in institutions and not only were lawmakers geared to that, but the public was frightened of people who were handicapped and because our society wants to put everybody in a square box that's two by two and if you don't fit and you don't if you aren't normal, then you have to go in another category. And so we've warehoused all sorts of people not only the mentally ill, but other handicapped citizens as well. And we have really come a long way and come out with the group home concepts that the mentally ill can be mainstreamed and others to live in the community. But we have a long way to go. One thing I'm noticing at the Legislature the other day in the Senate committee, I believe, they're discussing a bill on group homes. And a young boy who is handicapped, mentally he's handicapped, he lives in a group home got up and asked to speak before the committee. We're seeing more and more of that at the Capitol. People who are handicapped coming up testifying themselves getting actively involved in lobbying and speaking out. They seem to be gaining more

confidence in their power. Well they have, because first of all access has been made to the handicapped so the handicapped can leave their homes, you know, with the sidewalk repairs and buildings and especially public buildings with access to the handicapped. They're now coming to the Capitol and testifying on their own behalf and saying just because I am in a wheelchair, just because I can't see it, just because I can't hear doesn't mean that I'm a harm to myself or to someone else and I should be able to live in whatever neighborhood and with whatever family arrangement I consider my family to be -- a small group of people that are not related by blood, but still are truly a family. And the definition of family has changed quite a bit in the United States. You know in the last 50 years. And there's no reason why a group of adults because what do you do with an adult handicapped? I mean people who are handicapped when they grow up and their parents die. That's the greatest concern of a parent with a handicapped child. It is not what is going to happen while that parent's alive, but when a parent dies, who is going to take care of this handicapped child who is now 35 years old? What do you think the Legislature might do this year concerning group homes?

What would you like to see them do? It's going to be a fight, but I hope that we can retain the present status of the law which says that any person whether handicapped or not can live in whatever neighborhood they choose to live in anywhere in this state. And that if it's a group home in a residential neighborhood as long as it's not an institution, as long as it's a real home, where there's cooking and, and, and some stability of the same people living there from week to week, month to month, year to year with houseparents. I believe that, you know, that's the way the law should be. And what is happening in the Legislature is an assault on that provision. So as long as we can hold what we have, that would be the biggest accomplishment for group homes. And then with the mentally ill, specifically, I'm hoping to get great support to pass this bill. And then also to urge the House Committee on Health and Welfare to do a special population study on the mentally ill as we did last year for autism, which was something that people didn't know a lot of a lot about. So I'm hoping the mental, mentally ill will get priority this year. What do you think? I know in the past year this group home business has really generated some controversies,

especially I've noticed here in Baton Rouge. What has it that has caused this to surface, do you think, all of a sudden so strongly? Specifically what's happened is the establishment of two or three group homes in a very residential stable neighborhood and the residents are very frightened of what it will do to their property values and very frightened to have handicapped people living next door or in their backyard. And I think that they have reason, they don't have any reason to be concerned although I understand their concern and it just is a matter of education. I guess you would want it to though I guess, I think there is some fear as to who is actually being housed in these homes around children in the neighborhood and things like that, enough monitoring done. And I'm not saying that on our side that we don't have to do a little bit of work in regulating group homes to make sure that it is truly a family situation, that truly there are responsible adults living and professionals living in the home to give the proper supervision and to make sure that the people are not dangerous, that they are simply handicapped. And so I think on our side we need to do a

little bit of compromise. But I strongly believe in the concept of group homes for people to live wherever they choose. In looking at the Legislature this year though, Representative Landrieu, given the fact that you have budget constraints, given the fact that people are fighting over money, given the fact that teachers want pay raises, and all the problems the state is facing. Do we run the risk of these people issues being lost in the shuffle? I hope not, because these are issues that have been, that are timely and need to be addressed immediately. You know the assault on the group homes needs to be addressed. We can't say, well, y'all hold off and come back next year and we can decide when we get all these other things settled. So that's going to be settled one way or the other. I'm hoping that the grassroots organization that's beginning to form for rights for the mentally ill will be able to attract enough attention to demand that the Legislature act this year, and I hope we don't have to wait another year. But if we do, I believe this task force is going to really assure that we can pass this bill next year. Everything seems to be gaining momentum. We've had the handicapping of the barrier bills have had some good success in the past couple of years. So it's just one, one issue at a

time. One more step and you need to take it a step at a time. But I think the public is ready for some education on the issue of the mentally ill and I, I also think the professional community, doctors, psychiatrists, etc. are willing to help and testify. So I'm hoping that we can get this passed this year. Representative Landrieu, we would like to thank you for being with us this evening and sharing your thoughts. Robyn, tomorrow -- a big day here in Louisiana, the opening of the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition. It should be a heck of a party, as we say. Well, it should be. And you can be sure that all eyes in this state and in the nation are going to be on that opening day to see if it is as its organizers have said a big success. We'll be back, of course, Monday at 6:30. Until then, have a good weekend. I'm Robyn Ekings. And I'm Ken Johnson. Thanks for joining us. Goodnight. [Theme music] [Theme music]

[Theme music] [Theme music] [Theme music] [Theme music] Funding for the production of Louisiana: The State We're In is provided in part by the Zigler Foundation of Jennings and Gulf States Utilities, helping Louisiana bridge the gap to our energy future. [Theme music ends]