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"I had all the jobs." When Leland Verrick was at Muscatatuck State School, later Muscatatuck State Hospital and Training Center, it was not yet illegal for residents to perform the same duties as the hired staff. Leland says he bathed, diapered, and…

“One of the first things that she said was ‘I want a lawyer.’” Patty Cook recounts her experience with a teenager who had severe cerebral palsy and had been given a communication device for the first time. Patty was first hired at Muscatatuck State…

"We loved him, but he needed things that we couldn’t give him." Sandra Blair's son Brian was seven when he went into Muscatatuck State School in the early 1960s. He was the second of six children and Sandra was also working outside the home. It was a…

"The very first day of leaving him there, it was just like somebody tore my heart out," recalls Steve Ward. His son Steven entered Muscatatuck State Developmental Center around 1990. Steven was 14 and had had a brain tumor since the age of two,…

Building No. 12 was constructed in 1940 at a cost of $31,644. It remained in use as an administration building for Muscatatuck State Developmental Center until the Center's closure in 2005. The institution, located in Butlerville, Indiana, became…

This photo of the entrance to Muscatatuck State Developmental Center was taken in 2005. That was the same year the institution closed, the last person living at Muscatatuck having been placed into a community residence on April 22, 2005. The Center…

Building No. 22 was built around 1940 to house women working as attendants at Muscatatuck State School, as the institution became known in 1941. (Prior to that year, it was known as the Indiana Farm Colony for Feeble-Minded Youth.) Male and female…

“So, we ended up creating our first bus roping opportunity.” Nancy Griffin describes participating in an action protesting inaccessible public transportation. “You get a half a dozen folks in wheelchairs and somebody goes up to the door of the bus…

“Justin Dart was really something else,” recalls Christine Dahlberg. She discusses how at each town hall meeting he attended throughout the country, Justin made sure to acknowledge everyone’s efforts in regards to the ADA. Christine says, “I thought…

“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…