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"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…

“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 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…

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…

"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…

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…

In 1887 Indiana state legislators enacted a law providing for the establishment of the Indiana School for Feeble Minded Youth in Fort Wayne, one of the first institutions in the nation serving people with intellectual/developmental disabilities.…

An historical marker observing the centenary of Indiana’s 1907 landmark sterilization law, and acknowledging Indiana's role in the sterilization of its institutionalized citizens. The marker is located at the Indiana State Library in…

The photo depicts an alumnae reunion at the Indiana State School for the Deaf in Indianapolis on May 29, 1908.
Text in photo:
"Cirkut photo by C. F. Bretzman and Orson Archibald, 6 inch Cirkut"
"Alumni reunion, Ladies' Group, Indiana State…

Thomas Hancock, age 10 months, with nurse at General Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, October 1946. Thomas entered Muscatatuck State School in 1951, living there until he died in 1981.