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“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…

“I have a servant's mentality… so what do I do? Well, now my focus is on helping families with young children with disabilities and as they go up through the school system, how do you get supports after age 22.” Erika Steuterman has two daughters…

When Frank Epperson's van was pulled over by the Southport, Indiana police in 1988, it wasn't about a broken taillight. They wanted to give him an official escort upon his triumphant return from the Paralympics in Seoul, South Korea. Frank competed…

When he arrived in South Bend in 1980, the field of rehabilitation in Indiana "was in desperate need of some rapid growth," recalls George Soper. George had moved from Iowa, where he completed a doctoral work in the area of rehabilitation. Having…

"Now disability politics, you know, is not Republican or Democrats, it's really nonpartisan but you still have to be recognized as someone who's reliable and trustworthy," observes Jim Hammond in this 2013 interview. Working with legislators was part…

"Dickerson, I finally get it," a fiscally conservative State Senator from Hendricks County remarked. "He said, 'I'm on the board of directors of the bank and we hired this fellow with a disability. I don't even know what his disability is, but he's…

"There's a new crop of people that are saying, wait a minute, I'm not ashamed of anything. I don't need to distance myself from anything. In fact, I am a disabled person first." In this interview, Lawrence Carter-Long discusses his views on the…

“Barb was born in 1962 and at that time, there was very little available for people who were multi-handicap,” states Margaret. In the early days, Margaret turned to Crossroads Rehabilitation Center for services for her daughter. After attending St.…

On December 24, 1958, Mary Lou and Don Melloy were told their daughter Cindy should be placed in an institution. Mary Lou said, “My response was that they didn’t know what they were talking about…a very unhappy, aggressive mother left the room.”…