41. Paul Shankland Interview (1:06:00)

Date:
2017-09-28
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
In 1964, Paul decided to interview at the Fort Wayne State School as a recreation aide. They had football and baseball games, dances, and a summer camp. Although these activities were fun, the experience was different in retrospect. The daily living of getting up, bathing, eating, and going to bed was very regimented. Life was miserable for the residents. Paul saw a lot of mistreatment of residents during his eight years at (the renamed) Fort Wayne State Hospital and Training Center. After leaving the hospital, Paul worked at the Division on Mental Retardation and Department of Mental Health. Part of his job was to bring new ideas to the disability field. He helped introduce group homes to Indiana in the 1970s. In developing regulations for group home operations, Paul and colleagues were concerned the institutional model would be adopted by the group homes. Paul states, “A lot of that proved true – and it was again people with good intentions, or at least they thought they had good intentions.” Paul discusses initiatives funded by the Indiana Governor’s Council for People with Disabilities. He believes the most important project the Council ever funded was Partners in Policymaking. The program brings together people with disabilities and family members for eight weekends over the course of a year to develop leadership skills. He explains how the Council evolved when Suellen Jackson-Boner became the administrator. When asked to identify the biggest changes in the disability field over his 30 plus years, Paul stated the closing of the institutions. In addition, Paul shares his observations on community attitude changes. Paul retired from the Indiana Governor’s Council for People with Disabilities around 2009. He was interviewed in 2013.

42. Randy Krieble Interview (2:05:00)

Date:
2017-09-18
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
"People coming into the business today, I can't imagine them seeing the advancement and the progress that we saw." Randy Krieble talks about witnessing the evolution of institutional custody and control of people with disablities into community-oriented living arrangements offering choice and opportunity. Randy worked for the State of Indiana in positions related to disability starting in 1970. Forty-one years later he retired as assistant director of Indiana's Family and Social Service Administration, Division of Disability. In this 2012 interview, Randy discusses his experience working with people with intellectual/developmental disabilities inside several state institutions, and how as a state official he returned to one of them to effect its closure. From 1977 to 1980, Randy worked at Muscatatuck State Hospital and Training Center, starting in a behavior modification unit. He describes the dehumanizing conditions he found there, some of which eventually led to the institution shutting its doors in 2005. Randy describes the complexity of the transition process, during which time he lived at the Center during the week. There were strong community and family reactions to the shut down, and extensive efforts to find appropriate community placements for its residents. Randy also discusses the evolution of services for people with disabilities in Indiana and the leaders and advocates who contributed to those changes.

43. 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.”

44. 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.

45. 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.

46. Al Tolbert - Changes Along the Way (04:01)

Date:
2017-06-15
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
“I've seen some things change, a lot of things change for the better,” says Al Tolbert of the disabilities rights movement. In 1971, Al was in a training accident in Germany that left him paralyzed. After his accident, Al got involved in the Independent Living movement. He says the early days were very crude. “There were laws that people were trying to follow, but I don't think they had a central theme or a central place to go to ask questions or they didn't know exactly if they were doing things right.” When the ADA passed, people finally had guidelines and a place to call for answers. Many people didn’t see a need for the law. Al says, “I remember the chamber of commerce was not in favor of it.” People feared the ADA would put people out of work and hurt small businesses. Instead, Al believes the ADA has been an asset to employers and increased their productivity. Al explains the ADA is one of several laws that has improved the lives of people with disabilities. He discusses the Air Traffic Act and HAVA Act (Help America Vote Act). Despite the progress, Al knows there is more work to do. “There’s more to be done with the ADA in the implementation of it. So we’re not where we should be let’s put it that way. We have more growth to do.” Al was interviewed in 2009 at the Indiana Governor’s Council for People with Disabilities Conference.

47. Betty Williams Interview (39:14)

Date:
2017-08-30
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
In 2016, Betty Williams received the Champions of Equal Opportunity Award from the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities. Betty received the award for her leadership in promoting voting rights, serving on committees addressing disability issues, organizing self-advocate groups, and training across the country. Betty got her start in the early 1990s when she joined her local advocacy group. In 2014, Betty was appointed to the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities. In addition to discussing her work on the national level, Betty shares stories about her work in Indiana. She was involved in changing the name of the MRDD commission to the DD commission. Betty reflects on her advocacy work with Darcus Nims. “She was like my friend, my mentor, my trainer,” explains Betty. Together, they helped incorporate Self-Advocacy of Indiana. They traveled the state training people on the importance of self-advocacy. Betty understands there is still work to be do, which is why she wants to be a part of self-advocacy until she retires. Betty says, “I am going to retire like normal people. You know, I am. I have that plan. But even then I might do something around self-advocacy, you know?” Betty Louise Williams was born in 1959 and died in 2018. She was interviewed in 2016.

48. Byron K. Smith Interview (1:47:00)

Date:
2017-08-27
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
When Byron Smith was in sixth grade, his mother got a call from his teacher. She said, "Byron is out there on the monkey bars and he's sitting on the top bar and he's not hanging on with his hands." “My mom said, ‘Let him alone. Yes, he may fall. Yes, he may get hurt but as long as he's not being irreverent or grandstanding or behaving poorly, if he's just out there with the guys, shooting marbles in the gravel or climbing the monkey bars, let him go.' That was pretty much the attitude that my family had… do as much of everything with everybody as I could.” Byron recounts how he had attended public school for kindergarten and half of first grade in Bloomington, Indiana, before losing his sight due to eye disease. In 1951 "Bikey" entered the Indiana State School for the Blind. He learned Braille while attending grades 1 through 5 at the residential school in Indianapolis. With concerted advocacy from his parents and many others, he was permitted to re-enter public school in Bloomington for the 6th grade, the first blind pupil to transfer from the state school. Byron attended University Junior High and High Schools and graduated Indiana University with a degree in radio and television. He shares some stories about how he got into the field of radio. He worked at the University for over 37 years as a reporter, editor, and radio producer. Byron was active as a member and chairperson of the City of Bloomington’s Council for Community Accessibility and was co-founder of the Handicapped Improvisational Theater, later known as Diversity Theatre. Byron also talks about the work he did with his wife Patsy in audio description. Byron K. Smith was interviewed in 2013. A life-long Bloomington, Indiana resident, he died in 2016.

49. Mary Lou Melloy Interview (53:46)

Date:
2017-08-15
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
On December 24, 1958, Mary Lou and Don Melloy were told their daughter Cindy should be placed in an institution. Mary Lou said, “My response was that they didn’t know what they were talking about…a very unhappy, aggressive mother left the room.” Instead, the Melloys took Cindy home and she started receiving services from Easterseals in Evansville, Indiana. The Melloys eventually moved to Indianapolis. When Cindy was five years old, Mary Lou visited every school corporation in Marion County trying to find the best school for Cindy. Mary Lou decided Washington Township would be the easiest school to "strong arm" into taking her daughter. Cindy attended school at Washington Township until she was 18. After leaving school, Cindy went to the Noble workshop. When a new executive director came in wanting to do away with the workshop, Mary Lou was ready to organize a parent protest. However, a day after attending a meeting with the director, she called the director to tell him to find Cindy a job. For the next 20 plus years, Cindy worked for a pharmaceutical company until her job was outsourced. “If something happened to Don or I, everybody that works with Cindy, my kids, my neighbors, everybody knows to go to this one spot and everything is in there,” explains Mary Lou of the death folder she maintains. Important documents such as birth certificate, power of attorney and trust fund papers are included in the folder. Mary Lou also discusses staffing issues, funding, and her parent advocacy work. She says, “I was very busy.” A few of her activities included planning Christmas parties, attending conferences, arranging speakers for meetings, and advising parents. Mary Lou was interviewed in 2017.

50. The 317 Plan: Charting a New Path (06:41)

Date:
2017-08-03
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
In 1998, Indiana’s “317 Commission” of consumers, advocates, and state officials published "A Comprehensive Plan for the Design of Services for People with Developmental Disabilities", addressing the need for services to support people with developmental disabilities in their homes and at work. An expose of abuse at New Castle State Developmental Center had provided the initial impetus for action. The "317 Plan" marked a significant step in Indiana's history of providing services to people with disabilities. John Dickerson, David Mank, Randy Krieble, and Bettye Dunham talk about the impact the Plan had on funding and waiting lists for community based services, and on shaping those services.

51. Byron Smith - Reading Braille Through Bed Sheets (06:51)

Date:
2017-09-07
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
"Lights Out!" at the Indiana State School for The Blind didn't deter Byron Smith from his love of reading. He entered the Indianapolis school as a seven-year-old in 1951. He had recently lost his vision due to due to congenital glaucoma. In this 2013 interview excerpt Byron describes what it was like to attend the school and live in the dormitory during the week. In 1956 he transferred back to a public school in Bloomington, Indiana where his family lived.

52. The Right to the Same School Opportunities (08:05)

Date:
2017-08-05
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
"We were asking teachers to do some things they had not done before, to interact and support and teach kids that they didn't have a lot of experience doing in the past." An educator and a parent discuss the beginnings of integration of students with disabilities into the public schools in the 1970s, and the impact of the 1975 Education for All Handicapped Children Act. A compilation of excerpts from interviews with Pat Barber and Dixie Patterson.

53. Randy Krieble - A Glimpse Inside Muscatutuck State Developmental Center (07:15)

Date:
2017-04-14
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
It was a "stark" and "demoralizing" environment. From 1977 to 1980, Randy Krieble worked at Muscatatuck State Hospital and Training Center, as it was known at the time. In this video excerpt from a 2012 interview, he shares what a day in the life of a person living there might have been like in the late 1970s. Later, as a state official, Randy facilitated the closure the institution, located in Butlerville, Indiana. The last residents left Muscatutuck State Developmental Center in 2005.

54. Diane K. Shah, BA'67 (03:20)

Date:
2017
Main contributors:
Shah, Diane K.
Summary:
As a senior in high school in 1963, Diane Shah told her guidance counselor she dreamed of becoming a writer for Time or Newsweek. He discouraged her, saying that Time and Newsweek hired only men as writers. Her second choice was to become a sportswriter. He advised her to “go home and start thinking sensibly” about her future. Nevertheless, Shah studied journalism in college, working at the Indiana Daily Student and graduating from Indiana University in three and a half years, in 1967. After graduation, Shah began to look for a writing job. The editors she spoke with continually told her they couldn’t hire her because she was a woman. Ignoring her guidance counselor’s advice, she arranged an interview with the Washington bureau chief at Newsweek. She struck out, being told she not only didn’t have the experience to be a writer, but she also wasn’t qualified to be a reporter, researcher or part-time librarian. Her persistence led her to her first break, a job at Roll Call, covering Capitol Hill. After six weeks, she received a call from the National Observer, a weekly publication owned by Dow Jones. The publication hired Shah to be the sole writer for a weekly National Observer current events publication written for junior high students. She found the work dull, but she took the job in hopes that it might someday lead to a position with the National Observer itself. It took only two and a half months. She became the youngest staff writer and one of Dow Jones’s first female journalists. At the Observer, she covered national stories: trials, profiles of celebrities (including Washington Post Publisher Katharine Graham, First Lady Rosalynn Carter, baseball player Mickey Mantle and football player Joe Namath) and the 1972 Republican Convention. The Observer folded in 1977. Her next job, of all places, was as a writer at Newsweek magazine. In 1979, she became the magazine’s No. 2 sportswriter and one of the first women to enter a locker room. At Newsweek, she covered the 1980 Olympic Summer Games in Moscow — which the U.S. boycotted — and the 1980 Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York. She once wrote a cover story on Indiana native Larry Bird, and he reacted by telling other sportswriters, “If I ever see that girl again, I’ll spit in her face.” In 1981, Shah became the first female sports columnist for a daily paper in the U.S., at the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner. She covered Olympics, Super Bowls, World Series, NBA championships, Final Fours (including IU’s 1981 national championship), golf and tennis championships and boxing. When the Lakers beat the Celtics for the NBA championship in 1985, President Ronald Reagan invited the Lakers for a ceremony in the Rose Garden. Shah broke into the White House to get the story. She was the only reporter there. In 1987, Shah left her columnist job to pursue magazine and book writing. She published stories in The New York Times Magazine, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, GQ, ESPN The Magazine, Playboy, Sport, the Columbia Journalism Review and Esquire. Shah now writes books and has published four mystery novels, and she co-wrote the book Chief: My Life in the LAPD, which made the New York Times bestseller list. She published her most recent book, Relentless, about famed sports photographer Neil Leifer, in 2016.

55. "We're Taking Him Home" (05:09)

Date:
2017-08-23
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
"It's been a real adventure, but he just was thrown in the mix with his three brothers." Al and Linda Hublar talk about the lack of support and resources available when their son Mark was born with Down syndrome in the 1960s. They have made a point of treating him the same as his siblings without disabilities. Linda and Al were interviewed in New Albany, Indiana in 2017.

56. Margaret Blome Interview (45:50)

Date:
2017-08-15
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
“Barb was born in 1962 and at that time, there was very little available for people who were multi-handicap,” states Margaret. In the early days, Margaret turned to Crossroads Rehabilitation Center for services for her daughter. After attending St. Mary’s Child Center and Noble up to the age of 11, Barb entered the public school system at the Cold Springs School with other children with disabilities. Margaret says, “She had a really good experience in that program. Then she aged out of it. She was 18 and I had no services for a year.” After a year, Barb went back to Noble and has been then ever since. Margaret discusses how Barb spends her day. She enjoys music therapy, riding a stationary bicycle, and going for walks at the mall or park. Margaret feels fortunate with the support her family has received from doctors, friends and neighbors over the years. She says, “My neighbors have been supportive. I said, I couldn’t move, I’d have to educate another whole neighborhood.” Today, Barb lives in a waiver home with two roommates. She does visit her parents often on weekends. Margaret also discusses different parent groups, person centered planning and Barb’s future. Margaret shares her concerns about services. She says, “I think there's still room to grow but we also need to make sure we don't lose the services we have now.”

57. Jamie Beck - From High School to a Nursing Home (05:37)

Date:
2017-02-07
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
"He asked me if I wanted out. I said yeah, do what it takes to get me out." Jamie Beck shared her story about how she ended up living in a nursing home shortly after graduating from high school. She says her father's stage four cancer led to her placement there. After trying to make the best of a bad situation, Jamie spoke up and told her guardian she wanted out. Today Jamie lives in a home and works part-time in the community. She was interviewed in Indianapolis in 2016.

58. Margaret Blome - Services Were Hard to Find (05:41)

Date:
2017-08-15
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
When talking about services in the ‘60s and ‘70s, Margaret Blome says, “There was very little available for people with multi-handicaps.” Margaret did find a therapist at Crossroads Rehabilitation Center in Indianapolis who worked with her daughter, Barb, on learning to crawl, how to drink from a straw and other basic skills. When Barb was kindergarten age, Margaret found it difficult to find educational opportunities for her daughter. At the St. Mary’s Child Center, Margaret was introduced to other mothers who had children with disabilities. They formed a support group that met twice a week for two years. Margaret says, “I think overall, I was pretty supported.” Her parents said they would back any decisions she would make. Over the years, Margaret’s neighbors have been supportive. She says, “I said I couldn’t move. I have to educate another whole neighborhood.”

59. Ruth Ann Yingling - From Nursing Home to Supported Living (05:44)

Date:
2017-05-09
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
“He put me in the nursing home, and I didn’t like that very much,” explains Ruth Ann. When Ruth Ann’s grandmother passed away, her father was unable to care for Ruth Ann and placed her in a nursing home. Ruth Ann found it depressing. While attending the New Hope workshop, Ruth Ann started questioning a friend about what it was like to live in a group home. Ruth Ann decided to tell her caseworker she wanted to move to a group home, and her father agreed to the move. After living in the group home for a while, Ruth Ann was ready to try supported living. When she was told no because she needed too many supports, she contacted a lawyer to help her move out. Eventually, Ruth Ann moved into a home with two other roommates, with staffing 24 hours a day. She was interviewed in 2017.

60. Steve Hinkle - The Early Days of Group Homes (06:14)

Date:
2017-04-07
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
A member of the Fort Wayne neighborhood association where a new group home was going in telephoned Steve Hinkle. "'You know,' he said, 'just three houses down the road, there's a Cadillac that sits in a driveway.' And I said 'Well, I think that's really important because I've got a new van that's going be sitting there and I don't want it to be a sloppy neighborhood.'" Starting in 1976, Steve was instrumental in placing former residents of Fort Wayne State Developmental Center into some of Indiana's first group homes. Steve was President/CEO of Easter Seals Arc of Northeast Indiana for 34 years. In this video excerpt of a 2012 interview, he describes early group home development as both an exciting time of transition and a struggle with barriers such as zoning regulations and neighbor attitudes.