Timeline Pt.1 Disability Rights Movement History

Overview

This lecture explores the history of the disability rights movement in the United States, highlighting key events, legislation, and changing social attitudes from the nation's founding through the late 20th century.

Chronological Timeline of Disability History

• 1776–Early 1800s

  • At the nation’s founding, little is documented about people with disabilities, but some founders, like Stephen Hopkins (with cerebral palsy) and Gouverneur Morris (an amputee), played significant roles.
  • The Continental Congress provided pensions for disabled soldiers, marking the first federal support for people with disabilities.
  • Early on, many disabled individuals were integrated into society, but institutionalization became more common over time.

• 1812–1854

  • 1812: The Baltimore School for the Blind was established.
  • 1817: Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet founded the School for the Deaf in Hartford.
  • Samuel Gridley Howe founded the Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind (later the Perkins Institute), focusing on helping students gain work skills and independence.
  • 1840s: Dorothea Dix, a Boston schoolteacher, exposed harsh conditions in almshouses and advocated for better care for the mentally ill and disabled, lobbying Congress for federal funding.
  • 1854: Congress passed a law for separate facilities for the deaf, blind, and mentally ill, but President Franklin Pierce vetoed it, limiting federal intervention for decades.

• Post–Civil War (1860s–Early 1900s)

  • After the Civil War, only Union disabled veterans received pensions, while the South struggled. The war led to advances in orthopedic medicine and increased funding for artificial limbs.
  • Institutions for people with disabilities grew, focusing mainly on care and maintenance rather than integration.

• Early 1900s–1930s

  • 1912: The American Breeders Association (later the American Genetics Association) drafted a model sterilization law targeting people deemed "socially unfit."
  • By World War I, 16 states had adopted sterilization statutes, and some of these laws remain today.
  • Discriminatory practices included forced institutionalization and sterilization, often without consent, especially for those with intellectual disabilities.
  • 1920s: The first vocational rehabilitation programs were established to help veterans with disabilities re-enter the workforce.
  • 1930s: During the Great Depression, the first act of civil disobedience by people with disabilities occurred when 300 pensioners occupied Works Progress Administration offices to protest employment discrimination, resulting in the hiring of more disabled workers.
  • 1935: President Franklin D. Roosevelt (who had polio) signed the Social Security Act, framing disability support as social justice rather than charity.

• 1940s–1960s

  • 1946: The Paralyzed Veterans of America was established to promote medical care for disabled veterans.
  • 1947: The President’s Committee on Employment of the Handicapped was created, emphasizing the business obligation to hire people with disabilities.
  • After World War II, thousands of soldiers returned home with disabilities, leading to increased public awareness and the growth of physical and occupational therapy.
  • 1950s–1960s: Institutionalization remained common, and many parents were pressured to hide or give up their children. Some doctors, such as Dr. Hazleton, advocated for letting infants with disabilities die.
  • Parents, frustrated by the lack of support and the threat of institutionalization, began organizing advocacy groups to support their children with disabilities.
  • Edgar Allen, after losing his son in a streetcar accident, founded what became Easter Seals, which advocated for economic arguments for employment and education rather than charity.
  • The Arc, founded in Minneapolis, promoted independent living for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
  • Parent groups emphasized inclusion, autonomy, education, social interaction, and economic self-sufficiency, shifting advocacy from charity to rights and equality.

• 1970s–1990s

  • 1973: The Rehabilitation Act was passed, with Section 504 prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities in federally funded programs—a pivotal moment in disability rights history.
  • Disability rights protests in the 1970s and 1980s, such as activists crawling up the Capitol steps, brought national attention to the movement and helped drive legislative change.
  • 1990: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became the first comprehensive civil rights law outlawing discrimination against people with disabilities and mandating public access, transportation, and accommodations.
  • Research shows ongoing disparities: people with disabilities are more likely to live in poverty and face employment discrimination, with women experiencing double marginalization.

Ongoing Challenges and Social Attitudes

• Many people with disabilities have been isolated from society and even their own families, often placed in institutions and subjected to forced sterilization.
• US Census data shows that 30% of people with disabilities live in poverty, compared to 12.8% of those without disabilities. Those with more severe disabilities are more likely to experience persistent poverty.
• Employment gaps persist even among those with advanced degrees, and only about 40% of working-age adults with disabilities are employed, compared to 80% of those without disabilities.
• Women with disabilities face even greater employment challenges, with only 28% employed compared to 70% of women without disabilities.
• Helen Keller summarized the issue: it is not physical blindness but social blindness that limits opportunities for people with disabilities.

Key Terms & Definitions

• Institutionalization: Forcing individuals with disabilities to live in segregated facilities, often isolated from families and society.
• Eugenics: A movement promoting selective breeding and forced sterilization to eliminate perceived genetic “defects.”
• ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act): 1990 law prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities and requiring public accessibility.
• Section 504 (Rehabilitation Act): 1973 law banning disability-based discrimination in federally funded programs.
• Vocational Rehabilitation: Services designed to help people with disabilities enter or re-enter the workforce.

Action Items / Next Steps

• Review and memorize key dates from the disability history timeline provided on Moodle.
• Read Joseph Shapiro’s No Pity, Kim Nielsen’s A Disability History of the United States, or Paul Longmore’s work for more context.
• Prepare for the next lecture on civil rights legislation in the 1960s and 1970s.