91. Cori Mitchell Interview (1:07:00)

Date:
2017-11-02
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
“I get the benefits of free movies. So it's a good all-around job,” explains Cori of her job at the movie theater. Cori works part-time taking tickets. When Cori was interviewed in 2013, she had been working at the movie theater for the past 13 years. In 1988 while living in Colorado, Cori was in a car accident and sustained a head injury. Where Cori lived, services were limited. Her parents decided to move to Bloomington, Indiana to be closer to Cori’s sister and there would be more services available to Cori. Cori discusses how her life changed after her accident. She says, “It's really hard because brain injury, as you well know, has memory as the main problem.” Cori describes the accommodations her employer has made for her including writing down reminders on the movie schedule at her station. At home, Cori has her memory book to help organize her days. In addition to her love of movies, Cori enjoys exercising. “I have to keep my lungs and diaphragm exercised because it really, really affects my speech,” explains Cori. Some days she combines movies with exercising by putting on movie while she rides her NordicTrack at home. “It just revitalizes me and I feel good the rest of day,” states Cori. In her spare time, Cori likes to spend time with her family and painting. She has also been active with various advocacy groups.

92. Darcus Nims Interview (1:20:00)

Date:
2017-09-18
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
"That's only for regular people, not for us kind of people." That’s what Darcus Nims says she was told when she wanted to take a typing class in school. Darcus founded Self-Advocates of Indiana, the statewide group of advocates with intellectual/developmental disabilities, in 1990. She was interviewed in 2006, two years before her death at the age of 50. With numerous anecdotes, she discusses her achievements, the discrimination she experienced as a person with an intellectual disability, and how she fought to make things better for her fellow self-advocates. Growing up in Indianapolis, Darcus faced low expectations from the educational system. Told she needed to leave school at the age of 18, she was sent to sheltered workshops at Goodwill Industries, CrossRoads Industrial Services, and Noble Industries. Darcus wanted a job. “Nobody never asked me what I wanted to do if I wanted to go to the workshop.” For her niece with a disability, she says it is a lot better and yet many inequities remain. Darcus was proud of her influence on her niece who is now speaking up for herself. In 1991, Darcus traveled to Washington D.C. to receive the national Victorian Award for Achievement from President George H.W. Bush, for overcoming overwhelming challenges in her life. She had lunch at the White House and it was "the first time I ever got to stay in a hotel, the first time I ever got to go to a fancy restaurant." Some years later she had another first, flying to D.C. for a conference with self-advocate Betty Williams. “This time, we didn't have no helpers. We didn't think we could do it ourselves and we thought -- we were shocked we did it.”

93. Dawn Adams - The Work of Indiana Disability Rights (06:13)

Date:
2017-10-30
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
"In every state and territory in the country there is what is called P & A, which is short for Protection and Advocacy System. So every state is required to have a designated agency that serves as the state's P&A, who is there to protect and advocate specifically for people with disabilities." Dawn Adams, Executive Director of Indiana Disability Rights, was interviewed in 2016. Indiana Disability Rights is the service arm of the Indiana Protection & Advocacy Services (IPAS) Commission. She describes the work of the independent state agency that does not answer to the Governor's office, although the Governor appoints four out of 13 members of the Commission.

94. Deinstitutionalization Project: Ahead of Its Time (08:29)

Date:
2017-06-12
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
"You don't train people to get ready to go out in the community; you take a risk and let them go and see where their strengths are." From 1973 through 1976, the Deinstitututionalization Project gave residents at Muscatatuck State Developmental Center an opportunity to live in a community setting in Bloomington, Indiana and explore social and work activities. Vicki Pappas and Patrick Sandy were Indiana University students who were involved in the project and share some of their experiences in this video.

95. Don Melloy Interview (24:51)

Date:
2017-05-15
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
“I found in going around the state and meeting with organizations, they didn't want to talk to one another," states Don Melloy of his experience in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s in organizing Arc chapters in Indiana. The original focus of The Arc was to provide programs for children with disabilities excluded from public school. Don found parent groups didn’t always include all children with disabilities. “But they in themselves had barriers in their minds that it wasn't all handicapped children. There was some distinction between degrees of handicap. And those were artificial barriers that kept rising over the many years of development,” explains Don. In addition to talking about The Arc's early focus on education, Don discusses Arc's movement away from sheltered workshops to community employment. Don himself was reluctant when it was suggested his daughter Cindy could have a community job. However, after seeing Cindy thrive in her job, Don said it was the best thing he and his wife ever did in agreeing to let Cindy find a community job. Don discusses hiring John Dickerson as The Arc's executive director. “He had the personality that would challenge the old school all the time.” That is something Don admired about John, even if he didn’t always agree with him. Don says, “You have to have people coming in to any organization that are willing to take a look at it from a different point of view." Don was interviewed in 2017.

96. Donna Roberts Interview (1:02:00)

Date:
2017-11-07
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
“Forty-seven years ago I gave birth to a child who was born with multiple disabilities. This was back in New Hampshire. It was before there were any laws about education or anything. And I found problems getting services for her. They wouldn't let her in school, but they would send the truant officer to my home once a month to find out why she wasn't in school,” recalls Donna Roberts in a 2013 interview. Donna lived in New Hampshire at the time of her daughter’s birth and eventually started a school for children with disabilities in New Hampshire. After Donna moved to Indiana with her family, she became the Executive Director of United Cerebral Palsy Association of Greater Indiana (UCP of Greater Indiana). In her interview, Donna discusses the beginning of the organization, services provided by UCP of Greater Indiana and the changes she has seen over the years. "I joke with everybody that I take a day, I sit at home with a two-liter bottle of Diet Pepsi and a huge box of tissues and I read all the essays,” recounts Donna about the Attitude Essay Contest. The contest encourages elementary and middle school students to write about their own attitudes or the attitudes of others. Donna says, “I firmly believe -- and the essays prove -- kids want to focus on what is the same, what is similar, what do they have in common with somebody, not what is something that's going to put up a barrier to them.” Looking toward the future, Donna has advice for young professionals, “they’re going to have to build that road to where we need to go. But I think it's important that they listen to the self-advocates. I think it's important that they look -- it sounds so cliché -- but look outside the box.”

97. Donna Roberts on the ATTITUDE Essay Contest (04:57)

Date:
2017-03-07
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
"I joke with everybody that I take a day, I sit at home with a two-liter bottle of Diet Pepsi and a huge box of tissues and I read all the essays,” recounts Donna about the Attitude Essay Contest. The contest encourages elementary and middle school students to write about their own attitudes or the attitudes of others. Donna says, “I firmly believe -- and the essays prove -- kids want to focus on what is the same, what is similar, what do they have in common with somebody, not what is something that's going to put up a barrier to them.” Donna Roberts, retired Executive Director of United Cerebral Palsy Association of Greater Indiana, was interviewed in 2013.

98. Ethan Crough - Stereotypical Roles in the Entertainment World (07:01)

Date:
2017-06-09
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
"I'm one who has educational conversations about dwarfism with the world." In this excerpt from a 2017 interview, Columbus, Indiana resident Ethan Crough discusses the portrayal of people with dwarfism in popular media, depictions that have consequences for people in their daily lives. "Each piece of popular culture that highlights a person with dwarfism ends up with this repercussion," Ethan explains, whether people of short stature in public have been referred to, over the years, as Munchkins, Mini-Me's, or inflicted with the Oompa Loompa song. <br/>A former professional actor, Ethan has been active as a board member of Little People of America, Inc., a public speaker, and an advocate for people with dwarfism.

99. George Soper Interview (1:09:00)

Date:
2017-10-05
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
When he arrived in South Bend in 1980, the field of rehabilitation in Indiana "was in desperate need of some rapid growth," recalls George Soper. George had moved from Iowa, where he completed a doctoral work in the area of rehabilitation. Having started as a physical therapist, the focus of George's career became hospital administration. He retired in 2011 as Senior Vice President and Chief Learning Officer for South Bend's Memorial Hospital &amp; Health System. He worked for the hospital for 31 years. George had been hired to build up the rehabilitation unit at Memorial Hospital in 1980. He describes how the number of physical and occupational therapists has grown from two of each to 37 and 25 therapists, respectively. He developed one of the first rehabilitation engineering programs, creating seating for mobility purposes and other adaptive equipment. "We had people come in from literally all over the country to see what we were doing." He also started an innovative driver rehabilitation and training program for people with disabilities in the early 1980s. George discusses trends in rehabilitation such as the reduced length of hospital stays that led to expansion of outpatient services, how "lifestyle abuse" has led to needs for rehab services, and future training needs related to the growing aging population. George, who has twice won a Franklin Covey Community Service Award, also discusses the influence of Steven Covey's "Seven Habits" philosophy in his life and work. He was interviewed in South Bend in 2013.

100. Jaime Cousins - Mapping Out My Life (07:38)

Date:
2017-07-28
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
"I'm going to need to go to a college with a very highly rated psychology department." James Martin Cousins, who has autism, was a sophomore at a charter high school in Indianapolis when he was interviewed in 2011. He described his central role in creating his own Individualized Education Program (IEP) at Metropolitan High School. Jaime shares his educational goals after high school graduation and how he hopes to get his dream job doing research for the Lego company.