Disability Timeline - Advocacy 1841 Dorothea Dix begins to advocate for people with disabilities held in prisons and ACT INST Pelka, ABC-Clio Companion to the poorhouses. PSY USA Disability Rights Movement. WOM 1854 New England Gallaudet Association of the Deaf founded Montpelier, Vermont. ACT DF Pelka, ABC-Clio Companion to the ORG USA Disability Rights Movement. 1878 Modified Braille demonstrated by Joel W. Smith to American Association of ACT BLI Pelka, ABC-Clio Companion to the Instructors of the Blind. Rejecting it, association instead continues to support New EDU ORG Disability Rights Movement. York Point, even though blind readers complain it is more difficult to read and write. USA "War of the Dots" ensues, with blind advocates mostly favoring Modified Braille, while sighted teachers and administrators, who control transcription funds, back New York Point. 1880 National Convention of Deaf Mutes in Cincinnati, Ohio. Gathering ultimately leads ACT DF Pelka, ABC-Clio Companion to the to founding of National Association of the Deaf (NAD), which will resist oralism ORG USA Disability Rights Movement. and suppression of American Sign Language. 1901 National Fraternal Society of the Deaf founded by graduates of Michigan School ACT DF Pelka, ABC-Clio Companion to the for the Deaf. As only fraternal life insurance company run by Deaf people, advocates L&P ORG Disability Rights Movement. during first half of 20th century for Deaf people's rights to buy insurance and get USA driver's licenses. 1908 Clifford Beers, A Mind That Found Itself, exposes abusive conditions in public and ACT INST Pelka, ABC-Clio Companion to the private mental hospitals. PSY PUB Disability Rights Movement. USA 1908 Society for Mental Hygiene, patient self-advocacy group promotes improved ACT ORG treatment of people with mental illnesses. PSY USA 1909 Modified or American Braille adopted by New York Public School System for ACT BLI Pelka, ABC-Clio Companion to the instruction of blind children in response to public hearings where blind advocates call EDU USA Disability Rights Movement. on schools to discontinue New York Point. 1909 National Committee for Mental Hygiene founded by Clifford Beer in NYC. ACT PSY Pelka, ABC-Clio Companion to the USA Disability Rights Movement. 1932 Disabled American Veterans chartered by Congress to advocate for disabled ACT ORG Pelka, ABC-Clio Companion to the veterans with federal government. PHY USA Disability Rights Movement. VET 1934 California Council of the Blind founded by Jacobus ten Broek, Dr. Newel Perry, and ACT BLI other blind Californians. Becomes model for subsequent National Federation of the ORG USA Blind. 1935 League of the Physically Handicapped founded in New York City to oppose hiring ACT EMP Paul K. Longmore and David discrimination under the Works Progress Administration, a federal work-relief L&P ORG Goldberger. “The League of the program. Through protest demonstrations in Manhattan and Washington, D.C., it PHY USA Physically Handicapped and the eventually generates 1500 jobs for physically handicapped workers in New York City. Great Depression: A Case Study in the New Disability History.” Journal of American History 87:3 (December 2000): 888-922, online at: http://www. historycooperative.org /journals/jah/87.3/ 1940 American Federation of the Physically Handicapped founded by Paul Strachan. ACT EMP Pelka, ABC-Clio Companion to the First cross-disability, national political organization in U.S. Advocates against ORG PHY Disability Rights Movement. employment discrimination. Calls on U.S. Congress to establish a National Employ USA the Physically Handicapped Week. 1940 National Federation of the Blind founded at meeting of blind advocates in Wilkes- ACT BLI Pelka, ABC-Clio Companion to the Barre, Pennsylvania. Jacobus tenBroek elected first president. Takes civil rights ORG USA Disability Rights Movement. approach. Demands that blind people have a significant say in programs affecting them and currently controlled by sighted professionals. Calls for dog guide and "white cane laws," the first access and accommodations statutes. 1946 Cerebral Palsy Society of New York City established by parent advocates. Will ACT DD Pelka, ABC-Clio Companion to the expand to national organization, United Cerebral Palsy Associations. ORG PHY Disability Rights Movement. USA 1946 National Mental Health Foundation founded by conscientious objectors who during ACT INST Pelka, ABC-Clio Companion to the the World War II did alternative service in mental hospitals. Publicizing oppressive ORG PSY Disability Rights Movement. conditions in institutions, it helps launch the deinstitutionalization movement. USA 1947 Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) founded by delegates from Veterans ACT ORG Pelka, ABC-Clio Companion to the Administration hospitals across U.S. meeting at Birmingham Hospital in Van Nuys, PHY USA Disability Rights Movement. California. VET 1947 Presidents Committee on National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week ACT EMP Pelka, ABC-Clio Companion to the convenes first meeting in Washington, D.C. Through state and local committees, its ORG PHY Disability Rights Movement. ongoing public relations effort will utilize motion picture theater trailers, radio and USA TV public-service announcements, and billboards to persuade employers and the general public of the competency of people with disabilities and that its “good business to hire the handicapped.” 1948 National Paraplegia Foundation founded by members of Paralyzed Veterans of ACT ORG Pelka, ABC-Clio Companion to the America as civilian counterpart in disability rights advocacy. PHY USA Disability Rights Movement. VET 1948 We Are Not Alone (WANA), mental patients’ self-help group, founded at Rockland ACT ORG Pelka, ABC-Clio Companion to the State Hospital, New York City. PSY USA Disability Rights Movement. 1949 National Foundation for Cerebral Palsy founded by representatives of parents ACT CHAR Pelka, ABC-Clio Companion to the groups. Renamed United Cerebral Palsy Associations, Inc., in 1950. Along with DD PHY Disability Rights Movement. Association for Retarded Children, becomes major component of a post-World War II USA parents’ movement advocating for the rights of people with disabilities. 1950 Association for Retarded Children of the United States founded in Minneapolis by ACT DD Pelka, ABC-Clio Companion to the delegates from state associations of parents. Later renamed Association for Retarded ORG USA Disability Rights Movement. Citizens and finally The ARC. 1950 Barrier-free movement launched by disabled World War II veterans, other people ACT L&P with disabilities, and disability advocates. Over the next two decades, this campaign, PHY USA working with the National Easter Seals Society, the President’s Committee on VET Employment of the Handicapped, the Veterans Administration, and other entities, fashions national standards for “barrier-free” buildings and promotes their implementation in federal and state laws. 1953 Ed Roberts, later known as “father of the independent living movement,” contracts ACT PHY [Dias and Chadwick], Disability polio. USA Social History Project. 1955 Harold Wilke becomes founding director of the Commission on Religion and Health ACT EMP Pelka, ABC-Clio Companion to the of the United Church of Christ General Synod in New York. He labors to integrate PHY REL Disability Rights Movement. women and people with disabilities into religious life and ordained ministry. USA 1957 Association for Retarded Children appoints Gunnar Dybwad executive director. ACT DD ORG USA 1957 Little People of America, advocacy and social organization for people who variously ACT ORG Pelka, ABC-Clio Companion to the identify themselves as little people, dwarves, or short-statured people, founding PHY USA Disability Rights Movement. meeting in Reno, Nevada. 1958 American Federation of the Physically Handicapped disbands at convention in ACT ORG Pelka, ABC-Clio Companion to the Grand Rapids, Michigan, but members reorganize as the National Association of the PHY USA Disability Rights Movement. Physically Handicapped, Inc. 1958 Toomeyville Gazette, later renamed Rehabilitation Gazette, begins publication ACT PHY Pelka, ABC-Clio Companion to the under editorship of Gini Laurie at the Toomey Pavilion Polio Rehabilitation Center in PUB USA Disability Rights Movement. St. Louis. It becomes an early advocacy organ for independent living, disability rights, and cross-disability alliances. It publishes articles by writers with disabilities examining all aspects of the disability experience. 1960 Deinstitutionalization campaign for people with developmental disabilities ACT DD begins. Seeks to move individuals from large institutions the small group homes with INST L&P community-based services. But such services never receive full or adequate funding. USA (1960s) 1961 American Council of the Blind established. ACT BLI ORG USA 1962 Edward V. Roberts sues the University of California at Berkeley for rejecting his ACT EDU Pelka, ABC-Clio Companion to the admission application. He becomes its first student with a significant physical PHY USA Disability Rights Movement. disability. That same year, James Meredith sues the University of Mississippi and becomes its first African-American student. 1963 John Hessler enters University of California at Berkeley, joining Ed Roberts as ACT EDU Pelka, ABC-Clio Companion to the second student with significant physical disability. Other physically disabled students PHY USA Disability Rights Movement. soon enroll at Cal. They