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In 2016, Betty Williams received the Champions of Equal Opportunity Award from the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities. Betty received the award for her leadership in promoting voting rights, serving on committees…

"She shouldn't have to be put on a bus and spend 45 minutes on a bus one way to go to school," explains Pat Howey of her daughter's experience at six years old being sent to a school for children with physical disabilities. Pat discusses her…

Erika Steuterman visited the Indiana State Archive in 2013, as a way to face the difficult memories of visiting her older brother at Central State Hospital (Indianapolis) in the 1960s and 1970s. In this video, Erika shares some of those memories, and…

“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…

“The mistreatment, people encouraged to mistreat each other,” explains Paul Shankland of his time as an activity therapy aide at Fort Wayne State Hospital from 1964 to 1971. In reflecting back on what he witnessed, Paul shares a story about a…

"I couldn't see myself making a career standing bagging somebody's groceries," Melody Cooper explains. Starting her employment at Goodwill Industries and then at a Meijer store, Melody was hired by The Arc of Indiana. She attributes her career growth…

Easter Seals Crossroads has been providing assistive technology services since 1979. Wade Wingler, Vice President of Technology and Information Services at Easter Seals Crossroads in Indianapolis, Indiana, discusses how the program has grown to…

"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…

Betty Williams, an active self-advocate, discusses the importance of getting rid of the R-word and shares the story of how self-advocates helped change the name of the state commission in 2008.Betty was interviewed October, 2016.

“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…