Worldwide Visitors

Since 1972, MORC has always considered itself part of the worldwide disability community, enthusiastic to share its expertise on assisting children and adults with developmental and psychiatric disabilities.

Over the years, MORC has received visitors from 34 countries, as well as 49 U.S. states and all Canadian provinces. In addition, MORC staff travel the globe, helping others whenever the agency’s assistance is needed.

Among the faraway visitors to MORC have been the former Iron Curtain, Eastern Bloc nations, such as Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Croatia. As newly independent countries, they have been involved in rewriting laws and getting people out of institutions.

The visitors include a variety of people — governors, health care ministers, mental health leaders, families, and people with disabilities. Some have stated that they had to see with their own eyes the community approaches offered by MORC for people with disabilities with the most severe needs.

It would not be unusual to see visitors from places like South Korea, the Netherlands, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico visiting MORC. In fact, MORC served as a model to Puerto Rico and received visitors from the U.S. Justice Department, as well as governmental and human services staff from Puerto Rico. MORC staff also consulted in Puerto Rico. The end result was the closing of all institutions for people with developmental disabilities in Puerto Rico.

Over the years, people have come to visit MORC to learn about:

• Creating Shared Lives and Personal Residences
• Finding foster families
• Supporting birth and adoptive families
• Fighting community resistance
• Providing nursing and complex medical supports
• Creating jobs
• Managing finances
• Training caregivers
• Implementing Gentle Teaching
• Designing quality assurance programs
• Organizing parent monitoring teams
• Self-Determination