“An Invented Archive”: The Disability History Museum

Abstract

The September 2006 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education included a special supplement on “Diversity in Academic Careers.” It focused primarily on race and ethnicity; sexual preference received minimal attention. No references were made, however, to disability, although disabled Americans can be said to comprise the largest single “minority group” in the United States. Consider the following: according to the 2000 U.S. Census, 49.7 million people, representing 19.3 percent of the 257.2 million people aged five and older in the civilian noninstitutionalized population (or almost one in five U.S. residents), lives with some type of long-lasting condition or disability.