Disability History and Awareness Month: Founding of the Independent Living Movement

Disability History and Awareness Month: Founding of the Independent Living Movement

Exactly when the Independent Living movement began depends on the definition of “Independent Living.” As far back as the mid-1700s, schools and job training facilities were set up in the U.S. to promote independence of people who were deaf or blind, and, in the early 20^th Century, for veterans who had been injured in wars. About the time of World War I, national laws were passed to create vocational rehabilitation programs for people with disabilities.

In 1946, the National Mental Health Foundation, founded by people who worked in state mental institutions, began a movement to promote the idea of de-institutionalization.

Many consider Ed Roberts to be the Father of the Independent Living Movement, but acknowledgment also belongs to Mary Switzer, whose philosophy helped shape the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1954; Gini Laurie, who, in 1958, started the Rehabilitation Gazette (originally titled the Toomie J. Gazette) as a forum for international information exchange promoting independent living; Judy Heumann, who in the 1970s pursued legal actions to ensure equal education opportunities for people with disabilities; Justin Dart, a former Chair of the Texas Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities and advocate of Independent Living whom President George H.W. Bush introduced as “the ADA man”; and many others who sought to change attitudes and opportunities for people with disabilities to lead productive, independent lives.

Ed Roberts, due to his determination and drive, was finally accepted to attend the University of California at Berkeley in 1962, despite resistance and pessimism by the University admissions office. Roberts used his leadership skills to organize a group called The Rolling Quads, which advocated for more accessible sites on campus and support services for students to use to be able to live independently on campus. By the early 1970s, Roberts’ ideas for independent living had spread throughout the community and, in time, throughout the U.S., leading to the establishment of Independent Living Council. In 1972, Cooperative Living was established in Houston and four years later the Independent Living Research Utilization program was created there, marking the beginning of an annual national conference on Independent Living, attended by advocates across the U.S. By 1982, the National Council on Independent Living was established and actively promoting the concept and creating opportunities.

 

A video of a speech by Ed Roberts can be viewed on this page through the Minnesota Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities: http://www.mnddc.org/ed-roberts/discover.html

 

 

Sources:

    

• World Institute on Disability timeline: http://wid.org/international/timeline-of-the-international-independent-living-movement-1/timeline-of-the-international-independent-living-movement
• Independent Living Institute: http://www.independentliving.org/docs5/ILhistory.html
• Independent Living USA: http://www.ilusa.com/links/022301ed_roberts.htm
• Disability Social History Project: http://www.disabilityhistory.org/people_dart.html

 

October is Persons with Disabilities History and Awareness Month in Texas.  Each workday in October 2012, the Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities will post a daily Disability History Fact highlighting the accomplishments of people with disabilities or important dates and events related to the history of people with disabilities. These daily history facts will be presented to celebrate “Persons with Disabilities History and Awareness Month” in Texas. Learn more about disability history: http://governor.state.tx.us/disabilities/resources/disability_history/