In late 1985, The President's Committee on Mental Retardation (PCMR) spon­ sored a National Strategy Conference on Mental Retardation and Mental Health in Washington, D.C. The purpose of this conference was to bring together our nation's leadership in the fields of mental retardation and mental health in order to delineate the state of the art relative to the diagnosis, care, and treatment of citizens with mental retardation/mental illness, as well as to chart a national course for the support and integration of citizens with these challenging needs into the confluence of family and community life. The President's Committee on Mental Retardation recognized that citizens with these needs constitute one of the most underserved and, at times, forgotten segments of the population. With this in mind, the PCMR called together govern­ mental, professional, and parental representatives from across the nation to define the nature and extent of the problem, programs, and services that promise hope for substantive improvement in the quality of life of citizens with mental retardation/mental illness.