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"She kept finding out that blind students were attending regular public schools in all of the surrounding states and she couldn't figure out why weren't doing that in Indiana," recalls Byron Smith of his mother. Having recently lost his vision due to…

When Byron Smith was in sixth grade, his mother got a call from his teacher. She said, "Byron is out there on the monkey bars and he's sitting on the top bar and he's not hanging on with his hands." “My mom said, ‘Let him alone. Yes, he may fall.…

Braille 'n Speak® was a portable, electronic Braille note taker designed for use by individuals who are blind or have low vision. In 1987, long before sighted users had devices such as the iPad, Deane Blazie’s invention made it possible for users to…

“It was the hardest thing I’ve done in my life.” In the 1970s, Bonnie Smith was having difficulties providing care at home for her adolescent son Brooks. After seeking assistance, it was determined Brooks would go to Indiana's Madison State Hospital.…

“It was wonderful because he felt like he was going to school.” When Bonnie Smith’s family moved to Bloomington, Indiana in the 1960s, a minister from the First United Methodist Church knocked on her door one day informing Bonnie he had found a…

This photograph shows a blind Works Progress Administration (WPA) worker operating a Braille machine at the Indiana State Library in Indianapolis. The photo, from the collection of the National Archives and Records Administration, was taken between…

In describing the deinstitutionalization movement, Bill Gilkey says, “I think the process went pretty well and one reason for that was because they did have community mental health centers in place in many areas of Indiana. Bill Gilkey, a retired…

Byron (“Bikey”) Smith, age 8, on the lap of Vice President Richard Nixon during a trip to Washington D.C. in 1953. Byron, then a student at the Indiana School for the Blind, was in the capitol with his parents as the guest of a Chicago television…

“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…

Bettye Dunham got her start in the disability field in 1975. She was a support person to an Indiana University student needing assistance with note taking and studying. Bettye says, “The things I learned from Chris really endeared me to the field.”…