Page Introduction
Welcome to the Self-Advocacy Exhibit. Here you will find information on the history of self-advocacy and the rights of people with disABILITIES.Skip Navigation
Self-Advocacy
The History of People with Disabilities Deciding for Themselves
Advocacy
Active support of an idea or cause especially the act of pleading or arguing for something. Individuals, organizations, businesses, and governments can engage in advocacy.
Self-Advocacy
Self-advocacy refers to:
an individual’s ability to effectively communicate, convey, negotiate or assert his or her own interests, desires, needs, and rights. It involves making informed decisions and taking responsibility for those decisions. (VanReusen et al., 1994)
Independent Living
Advocates define independent living:
1. A living arrangement that maximizes independence and self-determination, especially for people with disabilities.
2. A social movement asserting that people with disabilities should have the same civil rights and life choices as people without disabilities.
1841
Advocacy: The Beginnings
Dorothea Dix advocates for separating individuals with disabilities from others incarcerated in penitentiaries and poorhouses. Her efforts lead to the establishment of 32 state run mental institutions across the United States.
Early advocacy was done on behalf of people with disabilities but this changed over time to several different forms of self-advocacy.
1854
Early Self-Advocacy
New England Gallaudet Association of the Deaf is formed. The Association becomes a leading advocacy group on behalf of the deaf community in the New England area in areas of education and discrimination among other issues.
1868
Individual Advocacy
1868 Packard, E.P.W. The Prisoners' Hidden Life or Insane Asylums Unveiled. Chicago: Published by the Author in 1868.
Written as an exposé on insane asylums in the 19th century, the author advocates for sweeping changes inyou the institutional system. Institutionalized herself, the author offers a first-hand account about life inside an insane asylum.
Also in 1868 the Fourteenth Amendment is passed on July 9. This amendment requires states to provide equal protection to all people within its boundaries.
1870s
Josephine Shaw Lowell
Lowell was a reformer and advocate in New York during the late 1870s and throughout the 1880s, but her efforts had national implications. She was directly responsible for the establishment of the first custodial asylum for women with mental disabilities located in Newark, New York. Lowell also pressured the State legislature to open 3 “houses of refuge” including the Western House of Refuge in Albion, New York to provide more care to women.
Lowell also founded the Charity Organization Society of the City of New York in 1882, that became the model for charity organizations in the United States.
1880
National Association for the Deaf
National Association for the Deaf founded to advocate for reforms on behalf of people with hearing impairments.
Robert P. McGregor is the first president and the first national convention is held in Cincinnati, Ohio.
1901
NFDS
The National Fraternal Society of the Deaf advocates for the right of people with hearing loss to buy life insurance and obtain drivers’ licenses. NFSD had its origins at the Michigan School for the Deaf in Flint, Michigan. Peter N. Heller is the Society’s first president.
1908
A Mind That Found Itself
Clifford Beers publishes his autobiography, A Mind That Found Itself, advocating for change in mental institutions. One year later, the National Committee for Mental Hygiene is formed by Beers to advocate for changes to the mental health system.
1921
Helen Keller
American Foundation for the Blind is formed. Helen Keller raises funds for the foundation that supports those with visual impairments in many ways including independent living.
1935
Employment
The League of the Physically Handicapped is founded in New York City. The League protests discrimination against people with disabilities in federal works programs such as the Works Progress Administration. They use sit-ins, picket lines and demonstrations to draw attention to their cause.