Every person need to be taught disability history
Not the โoh Einstein was probably autisticโ or the sanitized Helen Keller story. but this history disabled people have made and has been made for us.
Teach them about Carrie Buck, who was sterilized against her will, sued in 1927, and lost because โThree generations of imbeciles [were] enough.โ
Teach them about Judith Heumann and her associates, who in 1977, held the longest sit in a government building for the enactment of 504 protection passed three years earlier.
Teach them about all the Baby Does, newborns in 1980s who were born disabled and who doctors left to die without treatment, whoโs deaths lead to the passing of The Baby Doe amendment to the child abuse law in 1984.
Teach them about the deaf students at Gallaudet University, a liberal arts school for the deaf, who in 1988, protested the appointment of yet another hearing president and successfully elected I. King Jordan as their first deaf president.
Teach them about Jim Sinclair, who at the 1993 international Autism Conference stood and said โdonโt mourn for us. We are alive. We are real. And weโre here waiting for you.โ
Teach about the disability activists who laid down in front of buses for accessible transit in 1978, crawled up the steps of congress in 1990 for the ADA, and fight against police brutality, poverty, restricted access to medical care, and abuse today.
Teach about us.
British Disability history masterpost:
Resources
National Disability Arts Collection and Archive
Tony Baldwinson - has documented and archived a huge amount of our history. Also has things like timelines. Based in Manchester
Disabled People's Archive - centered in Manchester
How was school? - oral history on education
Studymore - mental health history
Social History of Learning Disability - learning disability history
Leeds University disability studies archive - a bit more academic but a good resource
British Deaf history society
The Deaf Visual Archive
Disability oral history british library
Community Deaf Archives - links to Northern Irish and Sussex Deaf community archives
History of British Sign Language
Disability activism in Bristol - oral history of the disabled people's movement in bristol
Leonard Cheshire Disability Archive - charity archive but also set up some of the earliest independent living houses.
As a general rule try searching for location + disabled coalition to find disabled lead organisations.
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Key events in the British disabled people's movement to 2003
1965-70: The National Campaign for the Young Chronic Sick - early campaign for independent living
1972/3: Foundation of the Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation (UPIAS) who would publish the Fundamental Principles of Disability in 1975 which formally laid out the ideas behind the social model.
1976: Grove Road Housing Scheme - Ostensibly the birth of independent living in the UK.
1981: International year of disabled people, Formation of British Council of Organisations of Disabled People
1984: Hampshire Centre for Independent Living set up, the first in the UK
1987: British Deaf Association launch campaign for the recognition of BSL
1990-93: Block Telethon protests against ITV telethon (later cancelled) and children in need.
1993: Disabled People direct action network (DAN) founded. Responsible for many protests nationwide.
1995: Disability Discrimination Act (worth noting that while this was a victory, the majority of disabled activists felt ans continue to feel that this did not go far enough)
1999: first march in the campaign for the recognition of BSL
2000: largest march for the recognition of BSL
2003: BSL is legally recognized as a language. In April 2022, BSL was finally recognised as an official language of the UK.
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Bonus: Chronic illness inclusion project - project discussing the inclusion of chronically ill people in the social model and disability activism - see this post for more details
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Please add on with more stuff, particularly on Deaf history as I don't know much about that
