US Disability: 1908-1940

Key Events regarding Disability in the US: 1908 to 1940:

1908: Clifford Whittingham Beers founded the "Connecticut Society for Mental Hygiene", now named Mental Health Connecticut

1909: Clifford Whittingham Beers founded the "National Committee for Mental Hygiene", now named "Mental Health America", to reform the treatment of the Mentally Ill.

1915: Harry Haiselden, the Chief Surgeon at the German-American Hospital, in Chicago, refused to perform needed Surgery for Children born with severe Birth Defects and allowed them to die, in an act of Eugenics.

1918: During World War 1, the Smith-Sears Veterans Rehabilitation Act became Law, and provided for the promotion of Vocational Rehabilitation and return to Civil Employment of Disabled Persons discharged from the U.S. Military.

1924: The Virginia Sterilization Act of 1924 provided for Compulsory Sterilization of Persons deemed to be "Feeble-Minded," including the "Insane, Idiotic, Imbecile, or Epileptic.  

1927:  Buck v. Bell, 274 U.S. 200 (1927), is a decision of the United States Supreme Court, ruled that a State Statute permitting Compulsory Sterilization of the unfit, including the Intellectually Disabled, "for the protection and health of the state" did not violate the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court has never expressly overturned Buck v. Bell.

1931: The Pratt–Smoot Act became law. The Act provided $100,000, to be administered by the Library of Congress, to provide Blind Adults with books. The Program, which is known as Books for the Blind, has been heavily amended and expanded over the years, and remains in place today.

1933–1945: The White House became one of the first Wheelchair-Accessible Government Buildings in Washington when modifications were made during the Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who used a wheelchair because of his Paralytic Illness.

1935: The League of the Physically Handicapped in New York City was formed in May 1935 to protest discrimination by the Works Progress Administration of the New Deal.

1935:  The Social Security Act became U.S. Law; it provided Federally funded Old-Age Benefits and funds to States for assistance to the Blind and Disabled Children. The Act also extended existing Vocational Rehabilitation Programs.

1936: The Randolph-Sheppard Act, a Federal law which mandates a priority to Blind persons to operate vending facilities on Federal Property, became law in the U.S.

1938: The Wagner-O'Day Act, mandated that U.S. Federal a=Agencies purchase products from workshops for the Blind meeting specific qualifications.