About the project

The Disability Social History Project (DSHP) is a community history project and we welcome your participation. Please contact us about anything that you would like to see become part of DSHP, including your disabled heroes, important events in disability history, and resources.

DSHP is managed by Patricia Chadwick.

Recent Highlights:

Signing Black in America

(From Talking Black in America) SIGNING BLACK in AMERICA is the first documentary about Black ASL: the unique dialect of American ...
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Lois Curtis, Disability Rights Activist Who Won a Landmark Civil Rights Case (1967 – 2022)

Fighting for the right to live in the community and establishing the right of people with disabilities to live independently ...
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Disabled American Veterans Start Spy Ring in the 1930s to Thwart Nazi Groups in US

Reprint from DAV (Disabled American Veterans) posted on JANUARY 9, 2018 BY STEVEN WILSON New book details how DAV founding ...
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Roberta Griffith…Empowered, not Impaired

(Reprint from the Michigan History magazine in the January/February 2016 issue) Roberta Griffith founded the Association for the Blind and ...
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Join Us in a Dream: A National Museum of Disability History and Culture

Reprint from the National Council on Public History 14 JUNE 2022 – HENRY J. KENNEDY AND NATHAN R. STENBERG It ...
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Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution

This 2021 Oscar-nominated film features a group of teens with disabilities at a groundbreaking summer camp in the 1970s. The ...
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The 504 Protests and the Black Panther Party

"Black Panthers saved the 504 sit-in." Corbett O'Toole, participant in the 1977 504 protest in San Francisco During the 504 ...
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Black Disabled Ancestors: by Leroy F. Moore Jr.

"We say that our ancestors are resting in peace but I argue that our Black Disabled Ancestors can’t rest in ...
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Intersectional Disability Resources

A great list of resources on intersectional disability - nonfiction, anthologies, websites, and podcasts - prepared by Alice Wong, Disability Visibility Project ...
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(Banner image from left: Front page of the May 7, 1977 edition of The Black Panther; a postage stamp titled “For Crippled Children”; a Goodwill postcard “Good Willy”; a Nazi poster about the “burden” of disabled people; disabled women at the 1995 Beijing Conference on Women; Black Disabled Ancestors by Leroy Moore; art by disabled artist Wolfie; a photo from the 504 protest; Fading Scars: my queer disability history by Corbett O’Toole.)