Groundbreaking Support for an Underserved Group of Learners 

Link to On Demand Resources: Practical Strategies for Supporting Immigrant Students with Disabilities - from the Immigrant Learning Center

Classroom Friendly Video and Other Accessible Curriculum for Teaching the Disability Rights Movement

An array of powerful tools–some new–are now available to stimulate and support teaching about the Disability Rights Movement, focused on the 1970s through passage of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. 

Supporting Teachers to Teach Disability History with Confidence: Lessons from New Jersey 

By Nicole Hansen, Christa S. Bialka and Teresa G. Wojcik

 

Brad Lomax: The Disabled Black Panther Who Fought for Section 504

By Saphire Murphy

 

Brad Lomax is a disabled man who is the leading reason we have Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act, but most likely, you don’t know who he is. You don’t have to be embarrassed or ashamed because not many people know of Lomax and his contributions to Disability Rights.

The Struggle for Disability Rights: From Objects of Reform to Advocates for Equality

Published in the National History Day 2026 Theme Book

 

Overview article on disability history for teachers and secondary students.

Download the summary article on disability history. 

“Completely Healthy Children” - The Persistence of Disabled Children and Their Allies During Aktion T4 and the Holocaust

By Wyatt Edwards

In Mikaël Ross’s graphic novel The Thud, the main character Noel, who has a developmental disability and has just arrived at a care facility in Germany, learns from an older woman named Irma about how her brother once told her the story of how the buses came to take disabled children. He was later taken himself and the Nazis killed him at one of Adolf Hitler’s so-called medical centers.

The Dehumanizing Effects of Eugenics: Disability History Lesson Plan

By Rich Cairn 

The engravings on the right of two young women are haunting. Aside from the clothing, these faces could easily be high school or college students today. Yet these images appeared in the New York Tribune in 1912 under the headline, “Eugenists Would Improve Human Stock by Blotting Out Blood Taints,” with the subheading, “Menaces to Society.” These women represent the millions of targets of eugenics. 

Teaching About the Disabled People’s Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence

By CherylAnne Amendola

"Whose Independence?" 5th grade lesson features reflections of the U.S. Declaration, including the 1989 Disabled People's Bill of Rights & Declaration of Independence - Cheryl Anne Amendola - National Middle Level Social Studies Teacher of the Year 2023. Link to slides from the lesson plan. 

The Reform to Equal Rights: K-12 Disability History Curriculum includes 250 primary sources in 23 lessons in seven units. Inclusive lessons feature Universal Design for Learning strategies and exemplary assessments. Lesson content facilitates integration into many regular K-12 topics. Skill and language development addresses C-3 History and Social Science frameworks as well as Educating for American Democracy Roadmap themes. Developed with Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources grant with additional support from Mass Humanities. 

Support for Teaching Disability History

Find up to date program details on teaching disability history on this page.