Anywhere else. But not here, Not in this neighborhood. Not on our block.
These were the sentiments expressed by neighbors when Henry Viscardi, Jr., world-renowned authority on physical rehabilitation, proposed a $2,000,000 new building with a gymnasium and cafeteria for the 200 handicapped children who attend his Human Resources School in Albertson, L. I., New York.
They made it abundantly clear that they would not allow an expansion of that school, no matter how beautiful it might be. They were not, they said, against crippled children. But why must this school, and the famed Abilities, Inc. workshop associated with the Human Resources Center, have to be here anyway, in the midst of their lovely, picket-fence suburban countryside? Anywhere else. But not here.
Out of his years of experience and his deep commitment to the disabled, Hank Viscardi did the only thing he knows how, he fought back. And the interweaving threads of this book form the fabric of his dramatic struggle against these suburban protesters. It is a story of conflict and tenderness,
warmth and humanity. It is also a shocking revelation of prejudice, ignorance, selfishness, hate, in the midst of America's new suburban enclave, Its elements are as important, as immediate, and as troubled as our people and our nation.
