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The first Special Olympics games were held at Soldier Field in Chicago in 1968. Athletes from the United States, Canada and France participated in the games. In 1969, a group of volunteers organized the first Special Olympics Indiana games in…

"We had three boys and five girls and they literally thought they owned the place." Ann Bishop came to Muscatatuck in September of 1954. She started as a head nurse, became assistant director of nursing, and then was a module director/mental health…

"Even before we started to school we used to go to Muscatatuck. My daddy played baseball... we’d have a picnic after the ball game and they played ball to entertain the patients out there." Belma Eberts' memories of Muscatatuck start in the 1920s…

"That was about the same time things were really starting to change. I felt like I was actually being part of a system that was on its way up." Cindie Underwood came to Muscatatuck State Developmental Center in 1989 as a case manager. Over the years…

"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,…

“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…

"I expected to go out of there feet first... I was just like the clients, I had been there my whole life. How could I function on the outside?" Sarah Poole started working as an attendant at Muscatatuck State Developmental Center in 1968. She soon…

"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,…

“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…