This lesson covers the history of the disability rights movement and the independent living movement. It also introduces the learner to current trends in best practice for serving children with disabilities and how these practices have emerged from a tragic history of discrimination.
The learner will investigate the major events of the disability rights movement, and demonstrate comprehension of the purpose behind the emergence of the independent living movement.
The learner will identify and describe problems with existing social and governmental systems that exclude and/or present barriers to the development of independent living skills in children with disabilities.
The learner will appraise and illustrate best practice leading toward development of the highest capacity of independent living skills in serving children with disabilities.
The disability rights movement asserts that people with disabilities are human beings with inalienable rights and that these rights can only be secured through collective political action. It arises out of the realization that, as historian Paul Longmore has written, "whatever the social setting and whatever the disability, people with disabilities share a common experience of social oppression."
People with disabilities throughout history have been defined as objects of shame, fear, pity, or ridicule. Americans with disabilities have been incarcerated, sometimes for life, in state institutions and nursing homes. As recently as 1979 it was legal for some state governments to sterilize disabled persons against their will. Other laws prohibited people with certain disabilities from marrying, or even from appearing in public.
Social prejudice kept disabled children out of the public schools, and sanctioned discrimination against disabled adults in employment, housing, and public accommodations. This prejudice has been exacerbated for people of color, women, and for members of ethnic and sexual minorities. Although groups and individuals have since the nineteenth century advocated for an end to this oppression, large scale, cross-disability rights activism, encouraged by the examples of the African-American civil rights and women's rights movements, did not begin until the late 1960s.
The independent living movement has been an important part of this broader movement for disability rights. It is based on the premise that people with even the most severe disabilities should have the choice of living in the community. This can be accomplished through the creation of personal assistance services allowing an individual to manage his or her personal care, to keep a home, to have a job, go to school, worship, and otherwise participate in the life of the community. The independent living movement also advocates for the removal of architectural and transportation barriers that prevent people with disabilities from sharing fully in all aspects of our society.
Although there were earlier experiments with this concept, it wasn't until 1972 that the first Center for Independent Living was founded by disability activists in Berkeley, California. By the turn of the century there were hundreds of such centers all across the United States, and throughout much of the rest of the world. In the meantime, a series of landmark court decisions, along with sustained advocacy by people with disabilities for legislation such as the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1975, and most notably the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, have secured for disabled Americans unprecedented access to their civil rights, and thus to the society around them.
These victories, as significant as they are, have not ended the discrimination or the prejudice. Indeed, the first years of the twenty-first century have seen several high court decisions which have limited the expected scope and effectiveness of disability rights law, while millions of disabled Americans remain locked in poverty, consigned to nursing homes, and frozen out of society. Even so, it is impossible to deny that the disability rights and independent living movements have transformed American society, and any history of American social and political life of the late twentieth century must include reference to the contributions of disability rights and independent living activists.
Contrary to what most people believe, most adults with
disabilities do not receive significant governmental supports for
activities of daily living. Therefore, it is incumbent on parents,
teachers, and community to impart the skills necessary for children
with disabilities to attain their highest possible level of skills in
order that they strive to become productive, wage earning adults who
have developed their fullest capacity to sustain themselves. While some
children and adults will continue to need supports throughout their
lifetimes, it is critical to aid all children in identifying and
reaching their fullest capacities. What are independent living skills?
Independent Living Skills are the skills needed to perform everyday
activities and tasks. These are skills that are necessary for all
people to integrate effectively in our society. They include:
Activities that aid children in developing their highest level of independent living capacity benefit all children, not just children with disabilities. Although teachers, parents and young people themselves may recognize the need for instruction in independent living skills, the demands of academic instruction in the schools often leave little time to address many of these skills. In significant ways, children learn these skills through observation, interaction and participation in social and recreational activities. These often take the form of extra-curricular, or community based activities.
Conduct your own research and prepare an analysis: How does the Disability Rights Movement correlate with the American Civil Rights Movement? In what ways are these movements different? In what ways do discriminatory practices inhibit the ability of persons with disabilities to become successful wage earners?
History of the Disability Movement in TN: Part 1
Institutionalization of persons with disabilities in Tennessee and the
first efforts to depopulate the developmental centers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9LaFHeuuVM
History of the Disability Movement in TN: Part 2
Lawsuits brought against the State of Tennessee and the large
developmental institutions by the US Department of Justice and People
First of Tennessee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4xddt-5pZA
History of the Disability Movement in TN: Part 3
Problems with deinstitutionalization in Tennessee and challenges
brought by parents and guardians of persons with disabilities who were
living in the state institutions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7YHNcMhA8c
History of the Disability Movement in TN: Part 4
After deinstitutionalization: Waiting lists and the impact of the focus
of state funds on the court protected class members.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEjupp4Qbtk
Wadhurst Primary School
Inclusion of 10 special needs children
http://www.teachers.tv/video/2861
Heather's Journey
from special education to inclusion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EA45ko7iwU
National Professional Development Center on Inclusion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRHpQqqp4NE
CHIME Charter school
including children with special needs
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7435947075501886863&ei=XVhBSpPKHoW6rwKQx6yfBQ&q=inclusion+disabilities&hl=en
Smithsonian Institution
History of the Disability Movement
http://americanhistory.si.edu/disabilityrights/welcome.html
Minnesota Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities
A History of Developmental Disabilities
http://www.mnddc.org/parallels/
University of California, Berkeley
The Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/collections/drilm/
National Consortium on Leadership and Disability for Youth
http://www.ncld-youth.info/DisabilityMovement.htm
Jane Campbell, Chair
UK Equality and Human Rights Commission
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/apr/30/disability