07/26/2024 | Allie Love, Education Program Specialist I at The Museum of the Grand Prairie
July is Disability Pride Month, which means it’s a fitting time to recognize, understand, and celebrate the diverse and complicated history of disability in the United States, Illinois, and, specifically, Champaign County. Centering disability in the history of the United States allows for a deeper understanding of the social and physical systems that make up America and the perceptions of ability that have shaped these institutions. People of disability have worked within, fought against, and transformed these systems to create an accessible world for people of all abilities.
As awareness of disability as a social category rose, the mid-20th century saw an increase in organization around disability in the United States. Americans no longer viewed disability as an individual issue, but rather as a collective identity with shared characteristics that needed and deserved civil rights. People of disability coalesced and, inspired and joined by other civil rights groups like those fighting for rights for African Americans, Women, and LGBTQ individuals, fought for legislation that would allow them to be fully self-determined citizens.
In 1968, through increased efforts by disabled activists, the Architectural Barriers Act was passed. This act required any federally funded buildings to be accessible for people with disabilities. Following this, the Rehabilitation Act was passed in 1973. This act prevented the discrimination against disabled individuals by organizations and programs that received federal funds. The most well-known of these significant legislations was the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), passed in 1990. The ADA encompasses a wide variety of sectors that prohibit the discrimination against disabled people in the public, as well as outlines how spaces should be made accessible.
Before these groundbreaking laws were established across the country, disability rights were pioneered right here in Champaign County. In 1947, the University of Illinois claimed the Veterans Administration Hospital in Galesburg, Illinois as a satellite campus. Here, under the leadership of Timothy Nugent, disabled veterans and other disabled individuals, created a physical education and therapy program. This program gave birth to the National Wheelchair Basketball Association after holding the first ever National Wheelchair Basketball Tournament with the U of I’s Gizz Kids becoming a prolific team. However, in early 1949, Governor Stevenson announced that the Galesburg Campus would be closed. In response, thirty students marched on the capitol building in Springfield to persuade the governor to halt the closing. While he refused to hear them, the University of Illinois agreed to allow thirteen of the Galesburg students to transfer to the main campus in Champaign-Urbana.
After this incident, the program at the University of Illinois continued to expand. Students, like Allen F. Wall and Byron E. Carter, expressed contentment with the amount of independence the program at the University of Illinois provided. With accessible spaces, students were able to act on their own, establish community and friendships, and pursue careers they previously thought were unattainable. In 1955, the University of Illinois agreed that all future buildings on campus would be designed to accommodate students with disabilities. The University of Illinois also established a Rehabilitation-Education Program that engaged in research that would set the standards for what was considered accessible across America. With extensive support and accessibility, the University of Illinois became a place where those with disabilities could not only survive but thrive. The school produced multiple Paralympic gold medalists, like Sharon Hendrick, Jean Driscoll, and more recently, Nichole Millage.
On July 26, it will have been thirty-four years since the passing of the ADA. While that was a significant accomplishment, it is important to note that the fight for disability rights did not begin or end there. By looking at the past, one can see how we have grown over time, but one can also see our potential to continue to grow. That is also where pride comes in. Disability pride, and pride in general, acts as a conduit for creating coalition and moving towards making the world as accessible as possible. As disabled poet and activist Eli Clare wrote in his book, Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation, “Pride is not an inessential thing.”