by Cynthia Harlan

Created on: April 29, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

No one knows what the future holds. My parents were blessed with a normal baby girl and then one day that changed.

The accident happened in 1962 in a small town in Connecticut. My mom was watching my 6 year old sister Sue walk to the corner store. The store was only a few doors down from our house. My sister only had to cross one street. Sue was almost to her destination when a drunk driver struck her.

My mom, in shock and crying hysterically, watched as her oldest daughter was placed into the ambulance. Through tears, the driver of the car muttered his lame explanation, "I was trying to avoid hitting her so I changed into the oncoming traffic lane. I'm so sorry." His judgment had definitely been impaired. If he had stayed in his own lane, the accident would never have happened.

The doctors told my parents that my sister would survive but she would have permanent brain damage. Instantly, she went from being a healthy, normal child to a mentally handicapped one.

My parents anguished over the decision that they had to make next. Things were different back in 1960 than they are today. There was no such thing as mainstreaming. Mentally challenged people were warehoused in institutions politely called "special schools". There they would be taught what they were thought to be capable of learning. Some were taught trade skills. Others would only learn basic life skills. My sister would spend the rest of her childhood in the Mansfield Training School.

One man's decision to drink and drive left a permanent scar upon my family. He stole my sister's childhood and he permanently affected our relationship with her. She doesn't feel the family bond that the rest of us do. To this day, we remain disconnected. In a single moment, this man's decision to drink and drive changed forever the future of my sister and our family

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