Audrey Aanes (born 27 August 1944) is an American disability rights activist sometimes referred to as Mother of the Independent Living Movement in Alaska. [1] Aanes received both a Bachelors and Master's in Special Education from the University of Northern Colorado following spending two years in the Peace Corps. [2] [3] Her other career focus was in the physical disability field. She founded the community, Access Alaska, which allows people with physical disabilities to live independently. [1]
The majority of her career was devoted to her advocacy and activism for people with physical disabilities in Alaska, particularly mentally competent adults. Her activism contributed to the development of the numerous Centers for Independent Living, [4] serving the state of Alaska (both rural and downtown). She was inducted into the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame in 2012 [1] for her work in helping disabled persons gain access to independent living in Alaska.
Aanes' work with people with disabilities began in 1965 when she was stationed in Ethiopia as a Peace Corp Volunteers. [2] In 1967, Aanes relocated her work in Turkey. [2] [3]
Upon arriving back in the US, Aanes went to college at the University of Northern Colorado. After graduating from the University of Northern Colorado in 1969 with a Bachelor's in Special Education, Aanes went on to get her Master's in Special Education from the University of Northern Colorado, finishing in 1969. [3]
Aanes was inducted into the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame in 2012 for her advocacy. Other inductees include Politician and Governor, Sarah Palin, and Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Champion, Susan Butcher.
In 1971, she returned to Alaska where she began teaching students with physical disabilities in a classroom setting. Her role in the lives of the physically disabled evolved when she resigned from teaching and became actively involved in advocacy for the standards of living of the physically disabled. [1] Her mission revolved around changing the then existing circumstances for high school graduates with physical disability, who had limited opportunities and were housed in nursing homes with senior citizens with conditions like dementia. [5] She then founded Access Alaska, [6] [4] the first independent living program where her work involved campaigning to ensure the disabled had equal access to resources like housing, transportation, restrooms and restaurants and also opportunities to actively participate in society through respectable jobs and vocational training. [5]
Aanes also championed efforts on the legislative front to grow support for the Independent Living movement by speaking at public hearings, soliciting financial support and highlighting the need for changing related laws. [7] [8] Her efforts were rewarded in 1980, with Access Alaska receiving a state grant to address issues including independent-living-skills training and amenities she would need to facilitate her work. [1] The increasing impact of her work was exemplified in 1982 when 8 young disabled adults moved out of nursing homes into equipped and accessible apartments in Anchorage, downtown Alaska. [1] Furthermore, she extended her efforts with the Independent Living Program to northwest Alaska, by founding Arctic Access in 1993. [1]
The disability rights movement is a global social movement that seeks to secure equal opportunities and equal rights for all people with disabilities.
The social model of disability identifies systemic barriers, derogatory attitudes, and social exclusion, which make it difficult or impossible for disabled people to attain their valued functionings. The social model of disability diverges from the dominant medical model of disability, which is a functional analysis of the body as a machine to be fixed in order to conform with normative values. As the medical model of disability carries with it a negative connotation, with negative labels associated with disabled people. The social model of disability seeks to challenge power imbalances within society between differently-abled people and seeks to redefine what disability means as a diverse expression of human life. While physical, sensory, intellectual, or psychological variations may result in individual functional differences, these do not necessarily have to lead to disability unless society fails to take account of and include people intentionally with respect to their individual needs. The origin of the approach can be traced to the 1960s, and the specific term emerged from the United Kingdom in the 1980s.
Edward Verne Roberts was an American activist. He was the first wheelchair user to attend the University of California, Berkeley. He was a pioneering leader of the disability rights movement.
Judith Ellen "Judy" Heumann was an American disability rights activist, known as the "Mother of the Disability Rights Movement". She was recognized internationally as a leader in the disability community. Heumann was a lifelong civil rights advocate for people with disabilities. Her work with governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), nonprofits, and various other disability interest groups significantly contributed to the development of human rights legislation and policies benefiting children and adults with disabilities. Through her work in the World Bank and the State Department, Heumann led the mainstreaming of disability rights into international development. Her contributions extended the international reach of the independent living movement.
Faye Glenn Abdellah was an American pioneer in nursing research. Abdellah was the first nurse and woman to serve as the Deputy Surgeon General of the United States. Preceding her appointment, she served in active duty during the Korean War, where she earned a distinguished ranking equivalent to a Navy Rear Admiral, making her the highest-ranked woman and nurse in the Federal Nursing Services at the time. In addition to these achievements, Abdellah led the formation of the National Institute of Nursing Research at the NIH, and was the founder and first dean of the Graduate School of Nursing at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS). A few of Abdellah's more passionate interests in public health included the importance of long-term care planning for elderly patients; the need to strengthen nursing school infrastructure; and the necessity of patient-centered approaches in nursing. In 2000, Abdellah was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. During her acceptance speech, Abdellah made the following quote: "We cannot wait for the world to change. .. Those of us with intelligence, purpose, and vision must take the lead and change the world. .. I promise never to rest until my work has been completed!”
AXIS Dance Company is a professional physically integrated contemporary dance company and dance education organization founded in 1987 and based in Oakland, California. It is one of the first contemporary dance companies in the world to consciously develop choreography that integrates dancers with and without physical disabilities. Their work has received nine Isadora Duncan Dance Awards and nine additional nominations for both their artistry and production values.
The physically integrated dance movement is part of the disability culture movement, which recognizes and celebrates the first-person experience of disability, not as a medical model construct but as a social phenomenon, through artistic, literary, and other creative means.
Laura Ann Hershey was a poet, journalist, popular speaker, feminist, and a disability rights activist and consultant. Known to have parked her wheelchair in front of buses, Hershey was one of the leaders of a protest against the paternalistic attitudes and images of people with disabilities inherent to Jerry Lewis's MDA Telethon. She was a regular columnist for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, and on her own website, Crip Commentary, and was published in a variety of magazines and websites. She was admired for her wit, her ability to structure strong arguments in the service of justice, and her spirited refusal to let social responses to her spinal muscular atrophy define the parameters of her life as anything less than a full human existence. She was also the mother of an adopted daughter.
Jean Ann Kennedy Smith was an American diplomat, activist, humanitarian, and author who served as United States Ambassador to Ireland from 1993 to 1998. She was a member of the Kennedy family, the eighth of nine children, and youngest daughter, born to Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald. Her siblings included President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Rosemary Kennedy, and Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver. She was also a sister-in-law of Jacqueline Kennedy.
Loretta C. Ford is an American nurse and the co-founder of the first nurse practitioner program. Along with pediatrician Henry Silver, Ford started the pediatric nurse practitioner program at the University of Colorado in 1965. In 1972, Ford joined the University of Rochester as founding dean of the nursing school.
Mona Winberg,CM was a Canadian journalist and disability rights activist. Concerned over policies that discuss disabilities or promote accessibility and independence, Winberg began writing for the Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy and eventually became the first disabled person to serve as president of the organization. In the 1980s, she approached the Toronto Sun about the lack of media coverage on disability issues and they hired her to write a weekly column. She was honored with the King Clancy Award and was inducted into the Terry Fox Hall of Fame by the Canadian Foundation for Physically Disabled Persons and a recipient of the Order of Canada.
Mary Ann Kerwin is an American lawyer and breastfeeding activist. One of the seven founders of La Leche League in 1956, she established the Colorado branch of the advocacy group and drafted state laws on behalf of women who breastfeed their infants in public and in the workplace. She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2012.
Mary Lou Breslin is a disability rights law and policy advocate and analyst. She is an adjunct faculty member at the University of San Francisco in the McLaren School of Business Executive Master of Management and Disability Services Program. She is the co-founder of the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF), a leading national civil rights law and policy center led by individuals with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities. She served as the DREDF's deputy and executive director, and president and chair of board of directors.
Marilyn E. Saviola was an American disability rights activist, executive director of the Center for the Independence of the Disabled in New York from 1983 to 1999, and vice president of Independence Care System after 2000. Saviola, a polio survivor from Manhattan, New York, is known nationally within the disability rights movement for her advocacy for people with disabilities and had accepted many awards and honors for her work.
Stacey Park Milbern was a Korean-American disability justice activist. She helped create the Disability Justice movement and advocated for fair treatment of disabled people.
Barbara Greenlee Toomer was an American advocate for disability rights. She was born and raised in Southern California and attended nursing school in San Francisco. She then joined the United States Army Nurse Corps in 1953 and was stationed at Fort Bragg. In 1956, Toomer contracted polio and became a wheelchair user. She spent the remainder of her life advocating for disability rights in Utah. She founded and participated in multiple activist organizations, participated in protests against inaccessible transportation, and lobbied for housing freedom for disabled persons. Much of her activism involved ensuring that the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) was upheld. Toomer received numerous awards for her efforts; she was awarded the Woman of Courageous Action Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Organization for Women in 2000 and the Rosa Parks Award by the Salt Lake branch of the NAACP in 2017. Toomer died in 2018 and was buried in the Utah Veterans Cemetery.
Sylvia Walker was a disability rights activist and professor with the School of Education at Howard University.
Anne Helen Carlsen was an American special educator born without forearms or lower legs, a disability rights advocate, private school superintendent, author, and namesake of a private school.
Judy Castle Scott is an advocate and activist known for her work to improve the living conditions of the visually impaired. Blind herself, she worked for several public and private organizations dedicated to the cause, and served as the director of the American Foundation for the Blind, retiring in 2015. Over the course of her career, Scott has been the recipient of various accolades, including being inducted into the Texas Women's Hall of Fame.
Susanne E. Jalbert is an activist for economic development, women's rights, and gender equity. Her work includes being a global leader, senior advisor, and mentor, including her work with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) around the world. She received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Colorado State University in 2011 and was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2022.