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To preserve historical context, some language within this message is deemed inappropriate by today’s terms, which helps illustrate the progression of the disability rights movement.
The Beginning of a Movement (1950s/60s) With the lack of support in the community and lack of accessibility in schools, a group of parents from Allegheny County and a professor from the University of Pittsburgh created “Friends of the Mentally Retarded.” With no staff and no funding, they reached out to other families and began to develop their own schools that met in churches and
synagogues so children who were turned away by their local school district had day programs to attend. Soon after, Friends changes its name to the “Allegheny County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children” (ACC-PARC). Local family members visited state institutions and exposed horrific living conditions.
