A Brief Timeline of the History of People with Disabilities

Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka was a landmark US Supreme Court decision that ruled that racial segregation in schools was unconstitutional. The ruling overturned an 1896 court decision that had determined that segregation was legal as long as the separate facilities were equal. The Brown decision determined that schools for black children were not equal to schools attended by white children and violated the “equal protection” clause of the 14th Amendment. The decision became a cornerstone of the civil rights movement and led to overturning “Jim Crow” laws that discriminated against people of colour.

In the disability rights movement, segregation based on disability was also determined to be unconstitutional and supported the parents’ movement in its quest for public education.

Brown v. Board of Education

In 1955, changes were made to the B.C. Public Schools Act that increased the basic grant allotted to school districts to fund separate classes for children who were moderately “handicapped”.

Provincial Government Funding for Students to attend Public Schools

In this declaration, the United Nations asserted that persons then labeled as “mentally retarded” have the same rights to health care, education, economic security and protection from abuse and exploitation as any other citizen.

Eugenics Archives

“Making available to all people with disabilities patterns of life and conditions of everyday living which are as close as possible to the regular circumstances and ways of life for society.”

Swedish researcher Bengt Nirje, 1969

Wolf Wolfensberger embraced Nirje’s principle in his book Normalization: The principle of normalization in human services. Wolfensberger adapted the definition “utilization of means which are as culturally normative as possible, in order to establish and/or maintain personal behaviours and characteristics which are as culturally normative as possible.” Considering that, at the time, the lives of most people with disabilities were far different from the rest of society, the book represented a paradigm shift in thinking and revolutionized the provision of services to people with developmental disabilities in North America in the 1970s. The book is out of print but is available online.

Normalization: The principle of normalization in human services

Normalization

The theme of the International Year of Disabled Persons was “full participation and equality.” Other objectives included raising public awareness about disability and encouraging disability groups to lobby for support.

The International Year of Disabled Persons 1981

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms became law in 1982. Section 15(1) states:

“Every individual is equal before and under the law and has a right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.”

Guide to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

In 2001, the World Health Organization (WHO) presented an alternative paradigm to the medical model of disability. In a social model of disability, using the WHO definition, “disability is caused by systemic barriers, negative attitudes and exclusion (purposeful or inadvertent) as the factors that disable people.”

Disabilities

B.C.'s Community Living Authority Act was passed, creating Community Living British Columbia. CLBC was initially given the mandate to serve both children and adults with developmental disabilities. Services included residential support, day programs, community inclusion, family supports and respite. By March 2006, 8400 children and 9950 adults are registered for service. In October 2009, changes were made to CLBC’s mandate to refocus the Crown corporation on serving adults over 19. The Ministry of Children and Family Development was given responsibility for services for children and youth with special needs.

Who is CLBC