Not Dead Yet in the Smithsonian

This is old news, but good news.  On June 25, 2013, a Smithsonian press release announced that:

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History will launch “EveryBody: An Artifact History of Disability in America” to explore themes and events related to the history of people with disabilities in the U.S. and offer a new perspective on American history. This online exhibition is a first-of-its-kind image compilation that provides access to objects and stories related to the history of disability that have been collected at the museum for more than 50 years. The information is presented in English and Spanish, and the website is designed to be accessible to all users, including those using specialized software for vision or hearing impairments. All pages on the website follow federal accessibility guidelines, which are outlined on the site’s Accessibility Statement page. The website is available at everybody.si.edu.

Several Not Dead Yet artifacts are included in the online exhibit, something long planned by its curator, Katherine Ott,  who also curated a physical exhibit of these artifacts over a decade ago.  A note from Ms. Ott posted with the online exhibit states, “This exhibit physically existed in the gallery from July 2000 to July 2001. Now it is only available on the web.”

I got to see it once, and was very glad to find it displayed right next to the exhibit of lunch counter protests in the Civil Rights Movement.

In no particular order, here are links to the NDY items.

NDY button – I think this was part of the 1997 US Supreme Court rally and was included with a larger collection of disability rights buttons.

NDY knit hat – (Scroll down the displayed items.)  Bunny McLeod of New Hampshire ADAPT and NDY used a hand held knitting machine and designed this hat for NDY to sell to keep NDY and ADAPT activists warm during the cold weather protest actions.

NDY Lapel Pin:  T4 Never Again – (Scroll down the displayed items.) “T4” is short for the street address Tiergartenstrasse 4, the location of a group of German psychiatrists and physicians in charge of killing more than 100,000 people with disabilities in the eugenics program conducted during the time leading up to World War II.  We designed and made this pin for our protest against Princeton University for hiring Professor Peter Singer, an advocate of euthanasia of disabled newborns as well as a cognitive test for “personhood” that could be applied to determine the status and legal rights of individuals with intellectual disabilities, severe brain injuries or dementia.

NDY t-shirt – This display includes the first NDY t-shirt, which about 45 disability activists wore on June 21, 1996 in our first protest action, targeting Jack Kevorkian, the Michigan pathologist known as “Dr. Death” for the assisted suicides or euthanasia deaths of about 130 people, with a second day of protest focused on a bioethics conference.

And just for fun:

ADAPT Photo – A much younger me is on the far right next to Cassie James, blocking an inaccessible bus with ADAPT.

Hopefully, one day, there will be a permanent physical exhibit of disability history at the Smithsonian.  Meanwhile, we thank the curator, Katherine Ott, for her long term efforts to see beyond the medical model of disability and document our disability rights movement as a central part of disability history. – Diane Coleman