Disability History Week

1845

As a result of the social movement led by Dorothea Dix, the first asylum for the mentally ill is built in Trenton, New Jersey. Dix is able to convince several other states to do the same. Her work with the disabled that she found in jails convinced her that there was a need for separate facilities.

1848

Hervey B. Wilbur opened his private school for idiots in Barre, Massachusetts. The Institution for Idiots was in a modest house with about 12 idiot students. Wilbur's system of education for the feebleminded was eventually adopted by several other institutions in the United States.

1855

The Syracuse State School opened with the help of Dr. Hervey Wilbur. The objective of the Syracuse State School was to train "improvable" cases with as much academic work as possible. From there children were trained in either domestic arts or farm work.

1856

James B. Richards opened the Private Institute for Imbeciles in Harlem, New York. Richards, a veteran teacher of the mentally disabled, began work with Samuel Gridley Howe at the Idiotic Asylum of Massachusetts in 1848. Richard's students of his institution experienced dramatic improvements.

1860

Cerebral Palsy was first classified by the British surgeon William Little. It was first named Little's Disease but was also known as Cerebral Paralysis.

1866

John Langdon Down publishes the first clinical description of what is later known as Down syndrome.

1868

Packard, E.P.W. The Prisoners' Hidden Life or Insane Asylums Unveiled. Chicago: Published by the Author, 1868.

Written as an expose on insane asylums in the 19th century, the author advocates for sweeping changes in the institutional system. Institutionalized herself, the author offers a first hand account from inside the insane asylum.

1869

The first wheelchair patent was registered with the United States patent office.