“Just like other people…” An appreciation of Elmer Bartels

By Lee Vorderer

One of the first people in power that I met when I went to work for the then Division of Mental Retardation in 1978  was Elmer Bartels, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission (MRC) until 2007.  Elmer used a motorized wheelchair and he had splints on his hands, the result of an ice hockey injury while he was in college.

The details behind that meeting are lost to me, but we discussed some kind of new initiative around employment for people with a range of disabilities.  Commissioner Bartels said, “They should have jobs, just like other people.”

Really?

People with significant disabilities should be able to get jobs, pay taxes, have their own lives?

Yes.

No qualifiers.

This was a a revelation to me, even though I’d been trained to teach children with all sorts of disabilities, I still had some pretty significant prejudices more than 35 years ago.  Maybe we could aim for a good quality workshop, maybe some kind of group home?  No.  Aim for just like other people.

There were so many chances to talk with Elmer Bartels about projects, initiatives, bills, funding – all the underpinnings of services and supports.  While he always appreciated that some goals would be achieved with many small steps, the goals were always the same:  personal control over one’s own life, just like other people.

Under Elmer’s leadership, the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission (MRC) initiated new programs under that were geared toward helping people with all sorts of disabilities have jobs, just like other people.

His efforts connecting the independent living movement to the work of vocational rehabilitation brought the notion of supports to people with disability so they could live lives of their own direction, just like other people.

Elmer had a rare understanding of what people needed to have lives like everyone else.  He appreciated, as so many of his peers did not, the importance of access to reliable information upon which to make decisions, take action, get services, just like other people.

In the mid 1980’s, Elmer’s MRC was one of the first state agencies to envision easy access to high quality information, and was the first to offer funding to programs that offered high quality information and referral services.

This philosophy, just like other people, inspired so much of what Elmer cared about and accomplished.

The Turning 22 Coalition

In the early 1980’s, many of us were working on a bill that would guarantee continued services and support for those in special education who would be graduating but still needed assistance.  I had the honor of organizing a lot of the advocacy for this effort, called the Turning 22 Coalition, and found regular guidance available to me from Elmer Bartels.  He would ask, “What are you trying to have happen?”  or  “Why does this matter?”

Elmer always reminded me of the goal – that people who needed it would get the support appropriate to their needs after they left the education world at age 22.  He always thought that decisions about strategy and tactics should be informed by that goal, and he was right.

While the bill didn’t pass with exactly the stipulations that we all hoped for, it did pass, and we were able to persuade the Legislature to make enough funding available so that hundreds of people with significant disabilities continue to get the supports and services they needed.

Was it perfect?  No.  Was it a big step in the right direction?  It was, and thanks to Elmer Bartels, we were all able to see it in exactly that way.  And the work continues…

The New England INDEX

At the Shriver Center, now part of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Bob Bass, also a Bedford resident, was creating a statewide, inter-organizational program to provide people with disabilities and those who were involved with them access to accurate and useful information.  His project, called New England INDEX, received early funding from MRC, and continues to be supported by MRC, along with other state agencies that followed MRC’s lead.

Elmer did not simply offer funding;  he offered guidance, suggestions, made requirements – all geared toward making INDEX’s services relevant and useful to anyone with a need for disability related information so people could make their own well-informed decisions, just like other people.

Living in Bedford

Several years later, I learned that Elmer lived in Bedford, a town where I had by then made my home. We had lunch one day, during which he told me all about the place, what he loved, what he hoped would change for the better from his point of view, what he was involved in, what I should be involved in.  Soon thereafter I visited him and his late wife Mary in their home. I remember Elmer saying that what he liked about his home in Bedford was that is was a house just like any other house.  Yes, there were modifications that enabled him greater independence and mobility, but most people who would visit the house would find a comfortable ranch where they could imagine themselves living.

Elmer was often to be found in his power wheelchair at town events. Every Bedford Day found him watching the parade, checking out booths, looking at art, being part of his town. He was there for Veteran’s events, by his presence telling everyone that he was a proud Bedford resident, just like everyone else.

While you noticed the chair, his splints, his accommodations, what you noticed more was his sparkle, his joy, his smile, his interest.

When you got to know Elmer, as I was fortunate to have done, you experienced his support, his wisdom, his clear way of thinking.  His presence, and his viewpoint has inspired me throughout my career.

As a society, we have such a long way to go to achieve Elmer’s vision of people with disabilities living lives just like others, but because of his presence, his ideas, his guidance to others, we have come such a long way from where we were.  I feel such honor at knowing him, at working with him, and having him for a friend – Just like other people.

Editor’s Note: For more detail about Elmer Bartel’s life, please go to his obituary, which can be found here: https://www.bedfordfuneralhome.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=2594374&fh_id=10250