Skip to Main Content

Quinebaug Valley Campus Library

Quinebaug Valley Disability Culture & Community

The Disability Rights Movement

The Disability Rights Movement is a global social movement that seeks to ensure equal rights and opportunities for disabled people. It gained momentum in the 1960s and 1970s, inspired by the civil rights movement. Check out the resources below to learn more.

The Neurodiversity Movement

The foundations of Neurodiversity thought and culture has its roots in the Autism Rights Movement. Jim Sinclair's 1993 essay, "Don't Mourn for Us" is often though of one of the major catalysts for the movements and is still considered a cornerstone texts. Considered radical compared to other autistic writings between the 1980s and early 1990s, Sinclair's essay argued that parents need to accept and embrace their child's differences to meet their needs, instead of the cultural norm of considering an autism diagnosis a tragedy. Sinclair's essay is the backbone of discussion about neurodiversity and to this day, is commonly referenced in the media and academia. 

General Historical Resources