When Ted Helped Alan

I imagine nearly every family in Massachusetts has a story to tell of how Senator Kennedy helped them out at one time or another. Mine follows.

In 1983, just as my brother Alan Boisseau was preparing to graduate from high school, a social worker visited our family’s home. It was the first time I ever met or saw a social worker. She was there to explain to my parents the sorts of programs Alan was eligible for until age 22 because he was mentally retarded.

Senator Ted Kennedy

No one had ever used that phrase before in our house. We all knew Alan was “slow” and had to take all “special” classes, could hardly read, and couldn’t write much more than his own name even at age 18, but we never really faced these facts or understood the consequences for Alan until that day. In that same conversation, the social worker expressed surprise and dismay at the news that Alan was going to graduate later that month, explaining to us that upon graduating from high school Alan could not claim to be “disabled” and therefore would not be eligible for training programs or other state-sponsored aid of any kind.

My mother absorbed all of this information-that her son was indeed mentally disabled, and that he was about to be denied opportunities that, up until that moment, we hadn’t even known existed-in a very short few minutes. She immediately contacted the high school principal to put a halt on the processing of Alan’s diploma. The principal, superintendent of schools, and school committee dug in their heels. Having passed Alan along from grade to grade, they insisted Alan was eligible for graduation and there was nothing we could do to stop the process now.

What was at stake, for the small town that I grew up in, was money-and understandably so. Our town, like many in central Massachusetts, was a poor former mill town. There was no money for much of anything-no swimming pool, no music classes, and nothing for the town’s “special” children. Those state-sponsored programs would require transportation, and it was town money that would have to be spent…unless Alan received a high school diploma, and then the town purse would be off the hook as he would be ineligible for help. It was one week before graduation.

My mother determined that she would access all she could for her son, yet felt she had run out of options. That same week she read a story in the Boston Globe about Rosemary Kennedy, Senator Ted Kennedy’s mentally handicapped sister. She called Senator Kennedy’s office to explain her plight and ask for advice. Kennedy commiserated with my mother and then made a personal call to the superintendent of schools in my hometown. He persuaded the superintendent to halt the processing of my brother’s diploma, and thus saved Alan from being excluded from opportunities for additional training during the next four years of his life as well as support as a disabled person beyond.

Kennedy may have shamed this school official-but, as it turned out, perhaps not quite enough. The principal called my mother to inform her she had “won” and that Alan would not receive a high school diploma that June. But there was a price, and it was to be paid emotionally by Alan, who would not be allowed to participate in the ceremonies or walk the stage. This official, someone who knew my mother well, counted on the fact that my mother could not face her child with this news-not the child who had been the butt of every bully, not the child who never won any prizes, who never boasted of any accomplishments, the one whom she now realized would never marry, never have children, probably never even hold a job or live on his own. To take this one source of personal pride and self-esteem away from him, at the last minute and so unnecessarily, was too much. My mother called Senator Kennedy’s office back.

Two days later, the news came that Alan would participate in our town’s high school ceremonies, receiving a blank certificate. He would appear last and not stand with all his peers; he would only mount the stage at the end after all the graduates had received their diplomas. We took the deal.

On graduation day, Alan, unaware of the controversy that had swirled around town for several weeks and not minding at all that he was last in line, was ecstatic and, in his usual warm-hearted and unself-conscious way, danced across the stage when his name was finally called. Too overcome with joy to merely shake hands with the principal, he threw his arms around the man in what I am sure was a suffocating bear hug. Smirks and giggles broke out in the crowd, but they were soon replaced with cheers and tears as Alan faced everyone with outstretched arms and called out “Thank you! Thank you all!” to the crowd. He simply would not leave the stage. The whole town was there; a small town turns out for high school graduations since nearly everyone is related to one of the graduates. Faced with Alan’s sheer unaffected joy, hearts melted and the townspeople leaped to their feet to give my brother the one and only standing ovation of his life. The town clapped for my mother too that day, many eyes turning with admiration to her for fighting for Alan’s moment in the sun.

Alan Boisseau, speaking at the State House after receiving an award for promoting self-advocacy.

Our family clapped and cheered for Alan, and for my mother, but the man we toasted later that day and the man I thank for this small but beautiful moment in my family’s lives was Senator Edward M. Kennedy-a man never too big, or too important, to recognize the smallest of human needs and to extend his hand in any way he could. I marvel at that spark of humanity in him. I’m humbled by it. And I will forever be grateful for it.

Twenty years later, my brother Alan stood at a podium at the State House in Boston to receive, on behalf of all mentally retarded persons in the state of Massachusetts, an award for helping to promote self-advocacy among his peers. My brother did not waste the efforts of Senator Kennedy, who had stood up for him; he now stands up for himself.