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“To be part of that and to watch the leadership and those agencies catch fire…" Connie Ferrell recalls the excitement of introducing supported employment to Indiana in the early 1990s. "At the time they were doing it, it was like heresy. And they had…

“I get the benefits of free movies. So it's a good all-around job,” explains Cori of her job at the movie theater. Cori works part-time taking tickets. When Cori was interviewed in 2013, she had been working at the movie theater for the past 13…

"That's only for regular people, not for us kind of people." That’s what Darcus Nims says she was told when she wanted to take a typing class in school. Darcus founded Self-Advocates of Indiana, the statewide group of advocates with…

"I think it's extremely important that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities be a continued and increasingly strong voice in developmental disability issues of the day. And be in the rooms where decisions get made about funding,…

"We didn't want a nursing home saying, we are a Center for Independent Living, we're eligible for that money." David Nelson talks about the establishment of Centers for Independent Living (CILs) in Indiana. He describes a successful effort in Indiana…

"Even though professionals are very good and a lot of times very empathetic, it's still not the same as having lived it 24 hours a day." As both a parent of an adult daughter with intellectual/developmental disabilities and a retired disability…

“I found in going around the state and meeting with organizations, they didn't want to talk to one another," states Don Melloy of his experience in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s in organizing Arc chapters in Indiana. The original focus of The Arc was…

“Forty-seven years ago I gave birth to a child who was born with multiple disabilities. This was back in New Hampshire. It was before there were any laws about education or anything. And I found problems getting services for her. They wouldn't let…

“It's an interesting question to ask, how I got interested in the field of disability services,” states Dr. Mary Ciccarelli. When Dr. Ciccarelli began her training in the late ‘70s, early ‘80s, there was little specific attention paid to…

"The last thing we really want to do is -- not only do you have to adjust to your disability, but now you need to sell your farm and move to town." Ed Bell says farming is statistically one of the most dangerous occupations. Although farmers are used…