LibGuides: Disability: Disability History

A Brief History of Disability Rights in the U.S.

This video, created for the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (also known as the ADA), offer a brief look at disability and activism in American history.

The Signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act

Recommended Books

The Disability Rights Movement by Doris Z. Fleischer; Freida Zames
Call Number: HV1553 .F58 2001
ISBN: 9781566398114
Publication Date: 2000-12-15
Based on interviews with almost a hundred activists, this book provides a detailed history of the struggle for disability rights in the United States.
The Oxford Handbook of Disability History (SUNY Owned) by Michael Rembis (Editor); Catherine J. Kudlick (Editor); Kim Nielsen (Editor)
ISBN: 9780190234959
Publication Date: 2018-07-18
The Oxford Handbook of Disability History is the first volume of its kind to represent disability history and its global scale, from ancient Greece to British West Africa.
The New Disability History (SUNY Owned) by Paul K. Longmore (Editor); Lauri Umansky (Editor)
ISBN: 9780814785638
Publication Date: 2001-03-01
A collected volume highlighting disability's hidden history in American society.
A Disability History of the United States (SUNY Owned) by Kim E. Nielsen
ISBN: 9780807022023
Publication Date: 2012-10-02
Covering the entirety of US history from pre-1492 to the present, A Disability History of the United States is the first book to place the experiences of people with disabilities at the center of the American narrative.
Fading Scars (SUNY Owned) by Corbett Joan OToole; Karen Nakamura (Foreword by); Elizabeth Grace (Preface by)
ISBN: 9780986183515
Publication Date: 2015-06-09
Uncovering stories about disability history and life, OToole shares her firsthand account of some of the most dramatic events in Disability History, and gives voice to those too often yet left out.
Crying Hands: Eugenics and Deaf People in Nazi Germany by Horst Biesold
ISBN: 0585105928
Publication Date: 1999-01-01
Horst Biesold's newly translated book examines this neglected aspect of Nazi "racial hygiene" through interviews with more than 1,000 deaf survivors of this brutal law that authorized forced sterilizations, abortions, and eventually murder.
Being Heumann by Judith Heumann; Kristen Joiner
ISBN: 9780807019290
Publication Date: 2020-02-25

Recommended Databases

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Scholarly articles on a wide range of subjects. Search using the keywords "disability", "disabled", "accessible", and "accessibility".
Gale OneFile World History This link opens in a new window
Scholarly & general articles, some e-books 1980 - present. Search using the keyword "disability".

Gale OneFile: U.S. History
Original and curated content on all aspects of U.S History. This includes Gale-created materials along with titles from 120+ notable publishers, thousands of newspapers and journals, and more than 175 million pages of primary sources. Search using the keywords "disability" and "accessibility".

Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution

Crip Camp is a documentary about a "groundbreaking summer camp [that] galvanize[d] a group of teens with disabilities to help build a movement, forging a new path toward greater equality."

Disability

Primary Sources & Oral Histories

Podcasts

Welcome!

A Brief History of Disability Rights in the U.S.

The Signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act

Recommended Books

Recommended Databases

Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution