Raymond’s Room will
create the same
kind of outrage as the blatant racial
segregation
of the 1950’s or the discrimination against women in the
early part of the 20th century. -Paul Wehman, Ph.D.,
Virginia Commonwealth University
DiLeo exposes the true face behind the
altruistic mask of governmental agencies.
-Foreword
Magazine, May/June, 2007,
Chipping away a little at a time
at the wall that
segregates people with
disabilities has not been successful
and
is no longer acceptable.
Read the book to learn why
and what
we must do. -Ernesto Sanchez,
Advocacy, Inc., Texas
His empathy with people with disabilities breathes passion into
his case for tearing down attitudinal barriers which have in
themselves limited people with disabilities for generations.
- Office of Handicapped Concerns, Oklahoma
A poignant, thought-provoking book... discusses
the exclusion, isolation, and powerlessness of people with disabilities
and the self-serving, change-resistant “disability industrial
complex” that keeps people down. -Tennessee Disability Coalition
... one of the most meaningful and valuable
books that
I have ever read in my professional career...
Keith Story, Ph.D., Research
and Practice for Persons with
Severe Disabilities (RPSD)TASH
Thirty years ago, as a young man working at a
facility for children with autism, Dale DiLeo was shown a tiny,
hot and smelly bedroom. Reserved for up to four young men with
autism, those least trusted by staff, this room was locked—from
the outside—all night long. It was named after Raymond,
the room’s perennial resident.
Raymond’s Room makes
a compelling case that today, people with disabilities are
still locked away from the rest of society. They may not be
necessarily housed in rooms like Raymond’s, but they
are placed in facilities and programs run by a public monopoly
unwilling to change.
“People with disabilities are the last minority group
in which legal segregation for housing and employment is still
routinely provided,” writes DiLeo. “And their lives
are controlled by one of the last publicly-funded monopolies
in America today.”
Using research, anecdotes, and captivating
stories, DiLeo takes aim at the billion-dollar “disability
industrial complex” that segregates people with significant
disabilities from mainstream life.
Calling people with disabilities
society’s “hidden citizens,” he describes
a system that prevents people from working and living in our
communities, despite new techniques and approaches proven effective
in helping even those with the most serious challenges to be
employed and to have a home to call their own.
For over 230
pages, DiLeo describes the downsides to current practices in
the field and then offers up proven alternatives.
Occasionally, a book will come along that actually has the
power to change a society. Those are books like Stowe’s
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Carson’s Silent Spring, Haley’s
The Autobiography of Malcolm X and Roots, Ginsberg’s
Howl, Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, Galbraith’s
The Affluent Society and Sinclair’s The Jungle... Now
let me introduce you to Dale DiLeo’s Raymond’s
Room, an essential work that belongs in the same list. If you
never read another book in your entire life read Raymond’s
Room.
–At Large, by Miles Beauchamp,
Ph.D.,
Associate Editor, The Asian Journal, April 13, 2007
If confession is good for the soul, then Raymond’s Room
has, indeed, been good for me. ... should be required reading
for all who are committed to dismantling the disability industrial
complex ... Thank you, Dale, for telling the truth.
–Ann Turnbull, Ed.D.,
Professor, Special Education, University of Kansas; Co-Director,
Beach Center on Disability, Kansas
Council for Exceptional Children, Burton Blatt Humanitarian Award, 2006
Dale has provided a call to action that should be heard
by people inside and outside disability circles.
–David Mank, Ph.D., Director,
Indiana Institute on Disability and Community, Indiana University
... puts reality right back in our faces. It raises consciousness,
ignites passions and brings the spirit back into our work. If
you have forgotten the story that got you interested in disability
issues, this book will be your awakening.
–Al Condeluci, Ph.D., Executive
Director, UCP of Pittsburgh
Author, Interdependence and Beyond Difference
...needs to be required reading...
speaks the unspeakable truth that all of us, aided by the “disability
industrial complex” Dale describes
daily commit unconscionable illegal acts and crimes disguised
as "helping
the handicapped."
... a compelling book that is long overdue. A
must read for EVERYONE!
–Vicky Davidson, Missouri
Planning Council for Developmental Disabilities
"...an excellent resource for self
-advocates, families and professionals. One of the most significant
publications I have read in my 31 years of working in the field."
– J. B. Black, Ed.D., Training
and Research Manager, state disability agency
Dale DiLeo, Author of Raymond's
Room and Disability Consultant and Advocate
[DiLeo]
has thought about these people deeply and compassionately. … a
warm, highly readable memoir and guide to unprejudiced vision. ...
would interest both the disability professional and the general reader.
Book Review, St. Augustine Record
DiLeo... analyzes the disability
care system... everyone should appreciate his account offering
insight into solutions that didn't work and some ideas that might
work better.
Book Review,
Muscular Dystrophy Association
DiLeo has unlocked the closed door
with Raymond’s Room and
invites you to join him in a more noble cause. Be assured of
this-- you will not be disappointed. (Read more),
–Don
Lavin, Rise Inc., Minnesota
This why we need Raymond's Room:
to remind us that people with disabilities still live lives controlled
by others... and to shake us from thinking that what Dale writes
is the past, when in fact, for many, many people, it is the present.
Get this book and read it.
