1940
The National Federation of the Blind is
formed in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, by Jacobus Broek and other blind advocates.
It advocates for "white cane laws" and input by blind people into programs
for blind clients, among other reforms.
The American Federation of the Physically Handicapped is founded by
Paul Strachan as the nation's first cross-disability, national political organization.
It pushes for an end to job discrimination and lobbies for passage
of legislation calling for a National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week,
among other initiatives.
1942
Henry Viscardi begins his work as an American
Red Cross volunteer, training 1944 disabled soldiers to use their prosthetic
limbs. His work at Walter Reed Army Medical Center
in Washington, D.C., draws the attention of Howard Rusk and Eleanor Roosevelt,
who protest when Viscardi's program is terminated by the Red Cross and the
military.
1943
Congress passes the Vocational Rehabilitation
Amendments, known as the LaFollette-Barden Act, adding physical rehabilitation
to the goals of federally funded vocational rehabilitation programs and providing
funding for certain health care services.
1944
Howard Rusk is assigned to the U.S. Army
Air Force Convalescent Center in Pawling, New York, where he begins a rehabilitation
program for disabled airmen. First dubbed "Rusks
folly" by the medical establishment rehabilitation medicine becomes a new
medical specialty.
1945
The Blinded Veterans Association (BVA) is
formed in Avon, Connecticut.
President Harry Truman signs Public Law 176, a joint congressional
resolution calling for the creation of an annual National Employ the Handicapped
Week.
Boyce R. Williams is hired by the federal Office of Vocational Rehabilitation
as Consultant for the Deaf, the Hard of Hearing, and the Speech Impaired.
He begins close to four decades of work at OVR, designing and implementing
educational and vocational programs for deaf Americans.
1946
Congress enacts the Hospital Survey and
Construction Act, also known as the Hill-Burton Act, authorizing federal grants
to the states for the construction of hospitals, public health centers, and
health facilities for rehabilitation of people with disabilities.
The Cerebral Palsy Society of New York City is established by parents
of children with cerebral palsy. This is the first
chapter of what will become the United Cerebral Palsy Associations, Inc.
The National Mental Health Foundation is founded by conscientious objectors
who served as attendants at state mental institutions during World War II.
It works to expose the abusive conditions at these facilities and becomes
an early impetus in the push for deinstitutionalization.
1947
Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) is founded
at the Birmingham Hospital in Van Nuys, California, by Fred Smead, Randall
Updykes, and other delegates from Veterans Administration hospitals across
the country.
The first meeting of the Presidents Committee on National Employ the
Physically Handicapped Week is held in Washington, D.C.
Its publicity campaigns, coordinated by state and local committees,
emphasize the competence of people with disabilities and use movie trailers,
billboards, and radio and television ads to convince the public that its "good
business to hire the handicapped."
Harold Russell wins two Academy Awards for his role in The Best Year
of Our Lives.
1948
The National Paraplegia Foundation is founded
by members of the Paralyzed Veterans of America, as the civilian arm of their
growing movement. Foundation chapters in many
cities and states take a leading role in advocating for disability rights.
The disabled students' program at the University of Illinois at Galesburg
is officially established. Founded and directed
by Timothy Nugent, the program moves to the campus at Urbana-Champaign, where
it becomes a prototype for disabled student programs and then independent
living centers across the country.
We Are Not Alone (WANA), a mental patients' self-help group, is organized
at the Rockland State Hospital in New York City.
1949
The first Annual Wheelchair Basketball Tournament
is held in Galesburg, Illinois. Wheelchair basketball,
and other sports, becomes an important part of disability lifestyle and culture
over the next several decades.
Timothy Nugent founds the National Wheelchair Basketball Association.
The National Foundation for Cerebral Palsy is chartered by representatives
of various groups of parents of children with cerebral palsy.
Renamed the United Cerebral Palsy Associations, Inc., in 1950, it becomes,
together with the Association for Retarded Children, a major force in the
parents' movement of the 1950s and thereafter.
