Slide presentation available.
Contact:
Tina Calabro (tina.calabro@verizon.net)
Paul O’Hanlon (pohanlon@dlp-pa.org)
History
of the
Disability
Movement
Photo courtesy of Tom Olin
Disability Rights Movement

Struggle to gain full citizenship

Demand for equality, independence,
autonomy, access to public life

Integration vs. “separate but equal”
Source: American History Museum, Smithsonian Institution
In other words…
“No More Pity”
 “Access not excuses”
 “I’m not dead yet”
 “I am not a case, and I don’t need
to be managed”
 “Same struggle/different difference”

Person-First
Language
Common Reactions to
Disability
Assumptions about level of
functioning
 Focus on limitations
 Fear
 Ignore the person
 Patronize
 Pity

Many Americans are not aware of the
amount of ongoing advocacy needed
to ensure equal rights for people
with disabilities.
Historically…
People with disabilities have been forced
into dependency.
Others speak for them, label them
take care of them…
often with the best intentions.
Source: American History Museum, Smithsonian Institution
New Understandings
-Disability is part of the human experience.
-Barriers are not created by disability, but
by society’s response to it.
-People with disabilities have a right to
participate in all facets of life.
-Society has a responsibility to remove the
barriers that exclude them.
Paul
Late 1700s

Nearly total neglect of people with disabilities
80% of people
in “poor houses”
and prison have
disabilities

Services for
disabled veterans
begin.

Source: Carol Berrigan, Center for Human Policy,
Syracuse University
1800s
Rise of “asylums” –
institutes for the care
of people, especially
those with physical
and mental disabilities
1817
Gallaudet founded American Asylum for Education
and Instruction of the Deaf established in
Hartford, CT. Emphasis on development

1812 -- School for blind children opened
in Baltimore. Massachusetts Asylum for
the Blind (est. 1832) had curriculum like
regular schools.

Early “mainstreaming” -- understanding
that people who were blind or deaf could
be integrated into society, did not need to
be sent away to institutions.
Source: Carol Berrigan, Center for Human Policy, Syracuse University
1849
Reformer
Dorothea Dix
demanded state
oversight
of almshouses,
where disabled people,
criminals and others
were thrown
together.
Source: ”No Pity,” Joseph P. Shapiro

Dix wrote that she had found people with mental
illness and retardation “in cages, in closets,
cellars. Stalls, pens! Chained, naked, beaten
with rods, and lashed into obedience.”

Result: States took over almshouses and built
more, and set up specialized facilities for
disabled and others who populated the
almshouses.
Source: “No Pity,” Joseph P. Shapiro
1854

First legislation to obtain federal funding
for facilities for physically and mentally
disabled vetoed by President Franklin
Pierce.
Set precedent for no federal
intervention for next 50 years.

Source: “No Pity,” Joseph P. Shapiro

1869 First classroom for children with
disabilities (deafness) in regular
elementary school (Boston). Later
expanded to include other disabilities.
By late 1800s, term “asylum”
changed to “hospital,’
“school,” “institute”

Source: Carol Berrigan, Center for Human Policy, Syracuse University
By 1875 -- 25 state schools and
institutes in U.S
Although centers may have begun
with education in mind, most
became custodial, segregated,
isolated
How Americans Learned about
Human Difference in 1800s
Dime
Museums
Freak Shows
Cabinet of
Curiosities
Source: Disability History Museum
Eugenics
Social philosophy which advocates the
improvement of human hereditary traits
through intervention.The goal is to create
healthier, more intelligent people, save
society's resources, and lessen human
suffering.
Historically, eugenics has been used as a
justification for human rights violations,
such as forced sterilization of persons
with genetic defects. Nazi Germany is
example.
Between 1909 and 1935, California
doctors used eugenics to justify
sterilization of 295 patients in
Mendocino mental hospital.
 By 1933, 26 states had sterilization
laws inspired by eugenics.

Source: exhibition, “Deadly Medicine: Creating a Master Race,”Andy Warhol Museum, Fall 2006

In 1905, Pennsylvania legislature
passed a law entitled “An Act for the
Prevention of Idiocy.”

Governor Samueal Pennypacker vetoed
the law. He wrote:
“Scientists, like all other men whose experiences have been
limited to one pursuit…sometimes need to be restained.
Men of high scientific attainment are prone …to lose sight
of broad principles outside their domain….To permit such
an operation would be to inflict cruelty upon a helpless
class…which the state has undertaken to protect.”
Source: exhibition, “Deadly Medicine: Creating a Master Race,”Andy Warhol Museum, Fall 2006
1910
Publication of The Jukes: A Study in Crime,
Pauperism, Disease and Heredity, Richard
Dugsdale.
Claimed that mental retardation was the
result of “bad blood.”
Linked criminal tendencies to
“feeblemindedness and mental defect.”
1915
Publication of Menace of Mental
Retardation, W.A. Fernald
Crime
 Delinquency
 Promiscuousness

Ideas/Terms Persist
Eugenics, until 1960s
 Term “cripple” used from late 18th
century to 1970s
 Term “defective” used from late
1700s to 1930s
 Term “dumb” (unable to speak) used
from early 1800s until 1970s.


Term “idiot” coined by psychologists in
late 19th century to describe person with
severe cognitive disability.

Term “moron” coined by psychologists in
1910 to describe person with mental age
of 7-12 years old
Source: Disability History Museum
1918-1920
First federally-funded rehabilitation
programs
Disability population grows –
WWI veterans, victims of industrial
accidents
1930s – 1940s
Depression
 Social Security
 WWII vets

Tina
1930s - 1940s
Parents Organize

Parents who did not want their children
institutionalized or banned from public
schools sought each other and started to
organize.

Concerned about lack of community
resources and support, need for “special
education.”

Questioning the statement:“Nothing can
be done for your child”

Belief that society has a responsibility to
help people with disabilities have decent
lives

Advocated for laws that improved
education, rehabilitation and civil rights
New York Post
December, 1948
Guidance in the training of these children is a basic
necessity. At the present, no such advice is available
to parents, and Mrs. Nobel and Mrs. Greenberg are
recruiting all parents of mentally retarded children for
their fight. They have formed a non-sectarian
organization, the Association for the Aid of Retarded
Children. Anyone interested should communicate
with Mrs. Nobel and Mrs. Greenberg at their homes.
Slide 4-4
More than 100 responded to the
advertisement and more than 200
attended the meeting
By 1950…
88 local groups
33 different organizations
in 19 States
National Association of Parents and
Friends of Mentally Retarded Children
1953-1973
1973-1981
1981-1992
1992-present
1950s-1960s

Brown vs. Board of Education
(1954) and African American civil
rights movement set stage for
disability rights advocacy

Civil Rights Act (1964) prohibits
discrimination based on race, color,
national origin
Brown
vs
Board of
Education
1954
Civil Rights
Act
1964
1960s

Advocates fight for laws that
ensured civil rights, substantive
education, and rehabilitation -- and
eliminated custodial practices

Federal Bureau for the Handicapped
established (1966)
International Symbol of
Access (1968)
Paul
Legislative History
1954
Brown
vs
Board of
Education
1964
1965
1967
1972
Civil
Rights
Act
1973
1975
1986
Elementary
&
Secondary
Education
Act (ESEA)
Mills
Vs
Brd of Ed
P.L. 94-142
Education
of All
Handicapped
Children
Act (EHA)
P.L. 99-457
EHA
Amendments
P.L.101-476
EHA
P.L. 105-17
Amendments
IDEA
(Becomes Amendments
IDEA)
Economic
Opportunities
Act
Amendments
(Head Start)
PA
MH/MR
Act
1997
2003
P.L.
101-336
Americans
With
Disabilities
Act (ADA)
Sec 504
Rehabilitation
Act
PARC
Vs
PA
1990
IDEA
Reauthorizattion
Head Start
Reauthorizationt
PA
Act 212
Adapted from Family First Training, Temple University, 2003
De-institutionalization &
Normalization
Public exposure of
inhumane
conditions in
institutions
Families’ desire for
children to live at
home, attend school,
and be part of the
community
The
Pennsylvania
Mental
Health/Mental
Retardation
(MH/MR) Act of
1967:
The seeds of
deinstitutionalization
& normalization
1970s

Title IX of Education Amendments of
1972 prohibits sex discrimination

Section 504 of Rehabilitation Act of
1973 prohibits discrimination on
basis of disability

Age Discrimination Act of 1975
1970s

PARC Decree (1971)– guaranteed
free and appropriate education in PA

Mills vs. Board of Education (1972)–
expanded educational opportunities
Mills
vs
Board of
Education
(1972)
PA Association
for Retarded
Children (PARC)
vs Commonwealth
Of Pennsylvania
(1972)
1975
Public Law 94-142
Education for All Handicapped
Children Act (EHA)
Later re-named “Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
Individuals with Disabilities
Eduction Act (IDEA)
Guarantees free and appropriate
education
 Assures rights of child and parents
 Assists states and localities to pay
for special education
 Assures and assesses delivery of
special education


In 1975, more than one million
children with disabilities were
excluded from public education

4 million students in schools were
not receiving services they needed
Source: US Dept. of Education
In 2002, 5.6 million
students received
services under IDEA

-1984 – 25%
in regular classes
-1995 – 45%
in regular classes
Add information about Gaskin
Settlement and other supports for
LRE, families who seek inclusive
education educations, educators
who want to become able to provide
it.
1970s
Independent Living Movement
Establishment of first Independent
Living Center (Berkeley)
 Cross-disability
 Integration into community is goal
 Approach problems as social issues
 Emphasis on self-determination
(speaking for ourselves, taking
control of own lives)

Pioneers
Ed Roberts – key figure in beginning of
Independent Livig Movement
Justin Dart – considered the “father of the
ADA”
Judy Heumann – denied a teaching
certificate because of physical disability
Americans with Disabilities
Act (1990)
One of the most
significant civil rights
documents of the
20th century

Prohibits disability
discrimination by
public entities


Mixed bag of legal protections and
Impact of the ADA

Increased participation and visibility of
people with disabilities
Improved
communication
access

Source: American History Museum, Smithsonian
Institution
Reshaping the environment
Curb-cuts
 Buses with lifts
 Accessible ATMs
 Barrier-free design
 Accessibility/visitability
 Voter access

Universal Design
Design of products so they are usable
by all people, to the greatest degree
possible, without need for
adaptation or specialized design
1998 Assistive Technology
Act
Access to information and
communication through technology
such as tele-captioners, voice
recognition systems, voice
synthesizers, screen readers.
 Any device or system, simple or
complex, designed to help a person
with a disability to perform various
tasks and activities.

Ongoing Advocacy
Employment
 Housing
 Transportation
 Healthcare
 Community-Based Services
 Waiting lists

A Voting Factoid
 According
to the latest census,
35 million Americans with
disabilities are of voting age.
This means that voters with
disabilities are now one of the
largest potential voting blocs in
American politics.
An Employment Factoid
 The
unemployment rate among
people with serious disabilities
is the highest of any group of
Americans, no matter their
education or qualifications.
Roughly 70 percent of workingage people with significant
disabilities are not working.
- U. S. Census Bureau
Diverse constituencies

Disability “family” issues

Physical, cognitive, mental health,
sensory
Parent – Offspring issues
 Disability onset issues
 Class and income
 Duration and inheritance

Diverse arenas / allies







Zoning issues in R-1 districts
Sidewalks – their presence and
maintenance
Agency control vs. individual control
Medical care provided in a self-directed
manner
Classroom arrangements and dynamics
Employment and issues of value and
worth
A seat on the bus