61. 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.

62. Sue Beecher - "Mandated to Close" (05:54)

Date:
2017-07-13
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
“I came back on Monday and one of the clients had a broken limb and nobody knew how it had occurred,” explains Sue Beecher of a visit to Muscatatuck State Developmental Center. In 1998, Sue was working for Indiana Protection & Advocacy and was assigned to monitor Muscatatuck. She witnessed the care for residents became progressively worse. In a 2013 interview, she shares multiple stories of abuse and neglect she found during her visits to the institution. The Center located in Butlerville, Indiana closed in 2005.

63. Cori Mitchell - "A Chance for a Fresh Start" (05:52)

Date:
2017-08-17
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
"Customers come up to me and they'll talk to me like they've known me for years." Cori Mitchell loves her job at a movie theater. As a high school senior in Colorado she was left with a head injury from an automobile accident. Soon after, in 1989, she moved to Indiana. Cori was interviewed in 2013. She discusses the support she's received from her family, from Vocational Rehabilitation Services, and from her employer.

64. Change the Way Students with Disabilities are Handled - Karen Ricci on Advocacy and Education (05:41)

Date:
2017-01-17
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
"I fell through the cracks bad," describes Karen Ricci of her school experience in the '70s and '80s. Karen discusses her challenges in school, such as teachers not having the training to adapt curriculum. Despite the challenges, Karen did go to college where she faced a new set of challenges. Karen lives in southern Indiana, but has advocated for better services in Kentucky. Karen would like to to use her voice and voting power to make a difference in Indiana.

65. Kim Davis Interview (1:28:00)

Date:
2017-11-30
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
“The day for the kids was pretty packed.” Kim Davis recalls the 1970s, when school aged children with challenging behaviors stayed at the Developmental Training Center (Now the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community) in Bloomington during the week. Their day often consisted of speech therapy, small group activities, adaptive physical education. After school, they might have a recreation activity, go out into the community, or help fix dinner. The goal was to develop a home program with the school system and parents so each student could return to their home school. Kim says, “I think that the Institute over time has really become a place where families could come and get information and I think that's a huge thing.” She describes how Institute staff help families and school systems connect. She states, “I was being a cheerleader for the teachers who just needed to know you're doing the right thing. Or here's a little tweak that you can do.” Kim shares her thoughts on the controversial facilitated communication movement. The book “Movement Difference and Diversity” had an impact on how she provided support to individuals. Kim says, “I think sometimes we forget about the impact that disability has on the human being and we want them to respond in the way we want them to respond. But we forget they have a disability and it impacts them in many different ways and it's up to us, the people without the disability to figure that out and provide that support.“ Kim talks about the importance of recognizing behaviors as communication. It requires people learn to listen differently. She also discusses her work with circles of support with students. Kim shares many personal stories throughout her 2013 interview. She retired from her position as research associate at the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community in 2012.

66. 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 & 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.

67. Nancy Kalina Interview (1:09:00)

Date:
2017-11-29
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
“If you want to talk about a typical day for a student with a disability, you almost have to talk about what kind of disability to be honest,” explains Nancy Kalina. A former research associate at the Indiana Resource Center for Autism, Nancy worked at Bloomington North High School in Bloomington, Indiana as a work-study coordinator from 2000 to 2011 and helped with student transitions out of high school. She describes the certificate, diploma and honors tracks available to students. Nancy explains the peer-tutoring program. She says students may help with academics, assist with an in-school job or be a bridge builder within a class. Circles of support are another option schools have used to benefit students. In addition to transition coordinators, Nancy feels the school systems need someone who could educate parents starting in the 8th grade on the various components of transitioning from school to adult services. Teachers know about curriculum and Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), but not necessarily how Vocational Rehabilitation Services work or the importance of the Medicaid Waiver. Nancy discusses her experiences with facilitated communication, a type of augmentative communication. She address some of the controversies surrounding the practice. She also shares thoughts on training needs for professionals entering the field of disabilities. Nancy was interviewed in 2013.

68. Vicki Pappas Interview (1:11:00)

Date:
2017-09-05
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
"The biggest thing is the values that started with the Deinstitutionalization Project and went on through all of our projects about consumer advocacy, self-determination, empowerment to people with disabilities, language use... just totally different values about people with disabilities." Vicki (Victoria C.) Pappas arrived at the Developmental Training Center (D.T.C.) in Bloomington as a graduate student in 1974. The D.T.C. was the the original name of the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community (IIDC). Vicki retired as director of the IIDC's Center for Planning and Policy Studies the year prior to this 2013 interview. Vicki discusses the history of the IIDC and significant activities involving government and other partners in the state of Indiana. She talks about her experience with the Deinstitutionalization Project directed by Mike Tracy in the early 1970s, the legacy of former Director Henry J. Schroeder, and the impact of important legislation in shaping the work of the IIDC, including passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act and its implementation in Indiana. She also discusses voting participation and access, developing the state disability plans with the Governor's Council for People with Disabilities, and the creation of the IIDC's Collaborative Work Lab for digitally assisted group decision making.

69. Jim Hammond Interview (1:05:00)

Date:
2017-09-21
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
"Now disability politics, you know, is not Republican or Democrats, it's really nonpartisan but you still have to be recognized as someone who's reliable and trustworthy," observes Jim Hammond in this 2013 interview. Working with legislators was part of his job as CEO of the Indiana Association of Rehabilitation Facilities (INARF). "INARF is the trade association for providers of services," he explains. It was a $1 billion industry in 2012, the year he retired. Jim discusses his 34 years with the membership organization, including its strong relationship with The Arc of Indiana, the envy of INARF's counterparts in other states. He describes the pool loan program, a tax exempt financing members created in 1992, and INARF's role in establishing unified standards for provider agencies and the adoption of an independent third party national accreditation program. He recalls founder Costa Miller, who was CEO until his death in 2004, and the "fierceness of his commitment." He discusses how funding for disability services has fared under various governors and their respective political parties. Other topics include Medicaid waivers and the growing importance of technology such as video monitoring and "smart home" features in residences for people with disabilities.

70. John Dickerson Interview (1:17:00)

Date:
2017-08-21
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
"Dickerson, I finally get it," a fiscally conservative State Senator from Hendricks County remarked. "He said, 'I'm on the board of directors of the bank and we hired this fellow with a disability. I don't even know what his disability is, but he's one of our best damn employees.'" As executive director of The Arc of Indiana, John Dickerson worked with legislators for decades to "fight on behalf of parents of individuals with disabilities to make the systems responsive." John recounts the evolution of what became the second largest Arc in the country in his 2013 interview. The group emerged out of the national movement by parents who had offspring with intellectual disabilities and wanted to band together to improve the lives of their children. The organization was known as the Indiana Association for Retarded Children when it was founded in 1956. John discusses the changing names of the association as a reflection of changes in language about people with disabilities, as well as The Arc's close relationship with self-advocates. John talks about the organization's influence on public policy. "The Arc isn't particularly well known in the general public. But we're remarkably well known with policymakers and legislators." He discusses The Arc's effort to get information to families about benefits and services, an initiative to support small businesses owned by people with developmental disabilities, and The Arc Master Trust. The latter is a mechanism enabling families to leave money to benefit their son or daughter with a disability. John considers the leadership role Indiana has played in the disability arena nationally, despite its relatively low profile. He reminisces about the late Elbert Johns, who was a long-time executive director of Stone Belt Arc in Bloomington. John Dickerson retired as Executive Director of The Arc of Indiana in 2015.

71. Sue Beecher Interview (1:10:00)

Date:
2017-08-25
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
"When I started in 1977, when people were admitted they brought with them what was called their death bag." The bag contained the clothing that residents of New Castle State Hospital were to be buried in. Sue Beecher recalls her employment at the institution in New Castle, Indiana for people with seizure disorders. Sue went on to work for Indiana's newly established Bureau of Developmental Disabilities Services (BDDS) and Indiana Protection & Advocacy (IPAS), where she retired prior to this 2013 interview. (IPAS has since changed its name to Indiana Disability Rights.) Sue talks about the New Castle procedures that patients underwent without consent, and the restraints and aversive measures that were used to control their behaviors. Years later, as an IPAS representative on Muscatatuck State Developmental Center's Human Rights Committee, she again witnessed violations of residents' rights. It was the late 1990s, prior to Muscatatuck's closure. "You cannot walk onto a unit and see visible injuries on 12 or 14 people that weren't there the week before and not suspect something is terribly wrong there. And these folks were non-verbal, so they're not going to be able to tell." As IPAS' work expanded via federal grants, Sue was instrumental in getting the traumatic brain injury and PABSS (Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security) programs up and running. She relates her satisfaction in those accomplishments and her pride in this independent state agency charged with protecting the rights of Hoosiers with disabilities. "In Indiana, we've gone ahead and sued when we needed to, we've never backed down." In 2011, Sue received the Terry Whiteman Award for her work at IPAS. Sue also discusses the development of group homes and the intensive effort to open new group homes between 1989 and 1991 while she directed the Indianapolis BDDS office.

72. Lawrence Carter-Long - The Changing Depiction of Disabilities in the Media (06:26)

Date:
2017-09-18
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
New digital media have opened a creative landscape "where it's not someone else speaking on behalf of the person with the disability - you don't have the teachers or the preachers and the social workers pushing the agenda." Lawrence Carter-Long, a Terre Haute native, is recognized nationally as an authority on media and disability. His perspective on film was informed by his experience curating and co-hosting the Turner Classic Movies festival, The Projected Image: A History of Disability in Film. He was Public Affairs Specialist for the National Council on Disability when he was interviewed in Indianapolis in 2015.

73. John Dickerson on the Evolution of The Arc of Indiana (07:38)

Date:
2017-02-22
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
“The Arc name is an interesting story in itself,” says John Dickerson of the history of The Arc. It was in the late ‘40s when parents across the country started organizing to discuss opportunities for their children. The first Indiana state association formed in 1956. Groups were called Parents and Friends of Retarded Children. In the 1970s, there was a movement to get rid of the “R” word, but it didn’t catch on. Finally, in the early ‘80s the name changed to The Arc.

74. Mike Furnish - The Early Days of Special Olympics Indiana (05:04)

Date:
2017-05-19
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
Mike Furnish, President/CEO of Special Olympics Indiana, was interviewed in 2013. Here he shares a brief history of the creation of the not-for-profit organization that provides sports training and athletic competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.

75. Mike Furnish Interview (45:50)

Date:
2017-10-05
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
The first Special Olympics games were held at Soldier Field in Chicago in 1968. Athletes from the United States, Canada and France participated in the games. In 1969, a group of volunteers organized the first Special Olympics Indiana games in Indianapolis. Mike Furnish, President and CEO of Special Olympics Indiana since 2007, started his involvement with Special Olympics in 1973 as a volunteer basketball coach. Mike will retire from Special Olympics Indiana in December, 2017. He was interviewed in 2013. Globally, Special Olympics offers at least 40 different sports. “The whole premise is that no two people are alike in their interests or abilities,” explains Mike. Special Olympics does not have an off-season. In addition to the summer games held on the campus of Indiana State, there is an annual winter games with downhill skiing, ice skating and snowboarding. Special Olympics Indiana has a small staff that coordinate the events, but as Mike explains, “One thing that characterizes our organization today is that we really are an organization of volunteers.” As there have been paradigm shifts in services, Special Olympics has changed over time. In 1988, Indiana was one of the first states to pilot test the Unified Sports program. The program brings together people with and without disabilities to train and compete against other unified sports teams. Mike says, “It was timely in the sense that that had paralleled what was taking place in schools as kids were moving away from special education settings into broader, more general settings.” Mike describes how Special Olympics Indiana has been a forerunner in the Special Olympics movement. Indiana introduced ballroom dancing and flag football as Special Olympic sports. In the late 1990s, the Athlete Leadership program was developed. A few of the program’s topics include public speaking skills, participation on committees, coaching techniques, and rules for officiating. Looking toward the future, Mike discusses the need for Special Olympics Indiana to promote healthier lifestyles. Mike says, “We find when we have done health screenings at our events, that 7 out of 10 of our athletes have an acute medical problem on the day they're there.” Special Olympics Indiana is reaching out to the medical community; providing healthy living training to athletes and volunteers; and targeting children age 2 to 7 with a program called Young Athletes. Mike explains, “It’s great stuff for sports, but it's great stuff for life when a person at that age begins to learn how to maintain their balance and do some of the basic things that sometimes just are ignored because people think they can't.”

76. Bettye Dunham on Interviewing Muscatatuck Residents about Work (05:38)

Date:
2017-03-28
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
“I wish I had recorded all the stories that we heard during those interviews,” stated Bettye Dunham on interviewing Muscatatuck State Hospital and Training Center residents for jobs at the Jennings Training Center in the 1970s. She talked to residents about life at the institution, their work experience, and what dreams they had for the future. Bettye found the residents wanted to work because they wanted to contribute to their own well-being and it gave them something meaningful to do. In this clip, she shares a few stories from those interviews. Bettye was interviewed in 2013.

77. 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.

78. Byron Smith - An Eleven-Year-Old Pioneer (06:08)

Date:
2017-07-28
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
"She kept finding out that blind students were attending regular public schools in all of the surrounding states and she couldn't figure out why weren't doing that in Indiana," recalls Byron Smith of his mother. Having recently lost his vision due to due to congenital glaucoma, seven-year-old "Bikey" entered the Indiana State School for the Blind in 1951. Five years later, and after intensive advocacy on the part of his parents and community members, he returned to his home town of Bloomington to attend Rogers Elementary School. In this 2013 interview excerpt, Byron Smith describes how he became the first pupil to be transferred from the state school to a public elementary school. He also talks about the essential tutoring assistance he received from Indiana University's Delta Gamma sorority as both a high school and college student.

79. 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.”

80. Connie Ferrell Interview (54:32)

Date:
2017-09-29
Main contributors:
Indiana Disability History Project
Summary:
“To be part of that and to watch the leadership and those agencies catch fire…" Connie Ferrell recalls the excitement of introducing supported employment to Indiana in the early 1990s. "At the time they were doing it, it was like heresy. And they had parents up against them and everybody else up against them. And yet they were on fire. They couldn't not do it at that point.” When interviewed in 2015, Connie was an Indiana resident working for Virginia Commonwealth University and a consultant on topics such as supported employment and benefits counseling. She recalls her early involvement in supported employment as it took hold in other states, with federal monies becoming available to implement change at the state level. These systems change grants encouraged movement away from segregated, congregated employment to integrated, community employment, "the concept of providing individual supports on the job site, not requiring people to be job ready before going to work." She moved to Indiana in 1992 when she was hired as a field coordinator for the new Indiana Employment Initiative implementing Indiana's systems change grant. She describes providing technical assistance to agencies in the southern part of the state that were moving clients out of sheltered workshops, supporting them to be competitively employed. From the vantage point of 2015, Connie sees stagnation in employment in Indiana as well as other states. "I haven't really seen progression in supported employment since the 90s." "I think one of the things that's so disappointing to me about Indiana's plateau or stagnation is that the 90s was an incredible decade for Indiana. We were way ahead. We got into the game late and surpassed many other states and agencies in terms of movement in the direction of community inclusion and supported employment." She discusses the move from hourly billing to "results-based funding" in Indiana, and the growth in day activity programs instead of employment. Connie talks about the importance of work incentives and getting information to people receiving public benefits. They need to know it's an "urban myth that if you go to work and earn over about $700 or $1,000 you're going to lose your Social Security, or you have stay under $85 if you're on SSI, or if you go to work you're going to lose your Medicaid and Medicare." She sees Indiana as a leader in the previous decade because the state vocational rehabilitation agency funded a network of benefits information specialists. Other topics include person centered practices, fostered here with the help of trainings by Beth Mount and John O'Brien. Connie also reminisces about her former colleague Steve Savage and his contributions. Steve was executive director of the Arc of Greater Boone County and died a few months before this interview.