DATE
1944
PLACE
Washington,
DC
1945
Europe, Japan
1948
Galesburg, IL
1949
Galesburg, IL
March 1949
Springfield,
IL
1949
Urbana, IL
1949
Urbana, IL
DEVELOPMENT
Congress passes the GI Bill, a law that gave veterans of World
War II the right to benefit from free college tuition and a
monthly stipend while enrolled in college, and access to lowinterest loans to facilitate buying a home and/or starting a
business.
World War II ends, hundreds of thousands of veterans return
home, and many start to enroll in colleges through the GI Bill.
Tim Nugent is hired by the University of Illinois to teach
health at its satellite Galesburg campus (a one-story complex on
the grounds of a former military hospital) and convinces the
administration of that campus to allow him to start a pilot
“rehabilitation” program for students with physical disabilities.
The first students are mostly veterans with service-related
disabilities.
The State of Illinois announces its decision to close the
Galesburg campus. The future of the “rehab program” started
by Nugent is uncertain. Students fear that this will be the end of
their college experience.
Students from the rehab program, along with Tim Nugent, go to
the state capitol to convince the governor and lawmakers to
find another home for the program. The governor avoids
meeting with them.
Students from the “rehab program” and Tim Nugent go to the
main campus (UIUC) to try to convince administrators to
allow the program to relocate to the U-C campus. They put
boards over the steps to some buildings and show that they
could wheel themselves up and into the buildings. Finally,
administrators agree to allow the program to come to UIUC on
a “provisional” basis. UIUC covers Nugent’s salary, but
otherwise refuses to provide any financial support for the
program.
Three tar-paper shacks (former barracks on loan to UIUC
from military bases, to help accommodate influx of veterans on
GI Bill) are allocated to the rehab program, to house its offices
and serve as dorms for male students. After long negotiations
with administrators, the first female students in the program are
housed at the new Lincoln Avenue Residence Hall (for women).
Nugent begins to build ramps on buildings and to get
classroom assignments changed to ensure that students in
wheelchairs may attend classes. More students join the
program, as the polio epidemic leaves many people in need of
wheelchairs or braces and crutches to get around. Nugent
begins the wheelchair basketball program: to inspire
confidence in the students, to give them a fuller college
experience, and to show the wider public what they can do.
1949
Urbana, IL
1950
Urbana and
Champaign,
IL
Urbana, IL
1954
1956
1959
Urbana and
Champaign,
IL
Urbana and
Champaign,
IL
1961
Urbana, IL
1962
Urbana, IL
1981
Urbana, IL
Students in the program create an organization known as the
DSO (Disability Service Organization), to serve as a hub for
self-advocacy, social and service activities.
Curb cuts are first introduced on the campus and in the
surrounding areas, thanks to campaigning by Nugent and
students in the program.
Students in the DSO manage to convince Governor William
Stratton to attend their annual awards banquet as a keynote
speaker. To honor his presence, many UIUC administrators
show up. Stratton praises the spirit of the program in his
speech, and this helps convince university administrators to
stop considering the program as “provisional.” Still, funds
to support the program are minimal. Tim Nugent still has to
find ways to raise funds to support the program and to campaign
with faculty on campus to adapt to the presence of students in
wheelchairs.
Through Nugent’s efforts, two used buses are donated to the
program, and are retrofitted with wheelchair lifts. Regular bus
service for people in wheelchairs on campus begins.
The first students with significant physical disabilities (those
needing assistance with ADLs, or activities of daily living) are
admitted to UIUC, and provisionally live at Greenbrier Nursing
Home in Champaign.
Tanbrier House, a remodeled private home close to campus, is
opened, offering a better facility for 5-6 male students with
severe physical disabilities to live in, while attending UIUC.
Given the small quarters and prevailing social norms, only male
students can live there at this time.
The rehabilitation program is renamed “Division of Disability
Resources and Educational Services” (DRES), when it is
granted the status of a division of the university, within the
College of Physical Education.
Beckwith House, a new facility constructed specifically to
house students who need assistance with ADLs, is built on
campus. This makes it possible to accommodate a larger
number of students -- female as well as male -- who need
personal assistance to live away from home.