Center for Campus History
History makes us. We make history.

History of Disability at UW–Madison

Overview

Unlike previous teaching guides, we do not have a recommended and secondary set of primary sources and readings but rather provide a multitude of sources and discussion questions that consider the founding of McBurney, the experiences of University of Wisconsin–Madison community members with disabilities, and some attempts to make the university more inclusive. We recommend that instructors and TAs select sources and questions that align with their specific courses, lessons, and interests.*

It is important to note that these sources are not all-encompassing and only consider the second half of the 20th century. This does not mean that students with disabilities did not attend UW, and these stories and experiences were often overlooked and not recorded and persevered in the archives.

The Center for Campus History consulted with the Go Big Read in creating this guide, and we encourage students, faculty, and staff to explore Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body. The Go Big Read also has suggested language for discussing disability, discussion questions, and curricular support materials for facilitating conversations about disability and Sitting Pretty.

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to understand how members of the University of Wisconsin–Madison community with disabilities encountered obstacles and challenges in their daily experience.

Students will be able to understand how students, staff, and faculty advocated for accommodations, access, and a more equitable schooling experience.

Students will be able to understand the successes and limitations of the policies, procedures, and reforms UW undertook to provide a more inclusive campus to individuals with disabilities.

Recommended Primary Sources

History of McBurney Disability Resource Center

The McBurney Disability Resource Center was founded in 1977. After the death of former UW student Floyd Michael McBurney in 1967, Professor James Graaskamp and the McBurney family used funds donated in his memory to create a disability services office that, as of 2023, serves over 5,000 students annually.

Memo with Recommendations for Students with Learning Disabilities: Read Source Here

This memo details the history of students with learning disabilities between 1985 and 1990. The memo mentions that the McBurney Resource Center lacks adequate staff to deal with the 200-plus students who identified as having a learning disability and recommends centralizing resources, hiring a full-time diagnostician, and providing additional staff.

Badger Herald Article “McBurney Center reduces services for disabled:” Read Source Here

This Badger Herald article details the supposed reduction of services for students with disabilities. The focus is specifically on no longer performing diagnostic assessments for students who may qualify for disability resources. The article also provides context about the number of students who have disabilities on campus, the lack of staff at McBurney, and the complications of diagnosing students with learning disabilities.

Duffy Response: Read Source Here

This is a response by Trey Duffy, the director of the McBurney Resource Center, to the Badger Herald article. He asserts that the cuts for services to students with disability were only ending the diagnostic assessment and that McBurney only had one learning specialist for 150+ students identified with a learning disability.

Statistics

McBurney Request based on type of Disability: Read Source Here

Basic statistics between the fall of 1986 and spring of 1989 that lists students with a multitude of disabilities according to McBurney, these include mental and physical disabilities.

Learning Disabilities Programming: Read Source Here

Includes the same statistics from above, but also has information about the services (full limited, and no service), offered to students with disabilities.

Para Transit User Pool: Read Source Here

Accessibility information, specifically parking permits and students who use a wheelchair.

Athletic Discrimination

Athletic Tickets for Disabled Students: Read Source Here

A letter addressed to the ticket office about price discrepancies and access for students with disabilities. Students with disabilities were charged double the price for general admissions for basketball tickets for students without disabilities. and access to seating at the fieldhouse for students with disabilities.

Handicapped Hockey Seating: Read Source Here

This is a letter from a professor regarding handicapped seating at the hockey coliseum. The professor slams the university for converting handicapped accessible seating to charge higher ticket cost prices for able-bodied people, and the accessible seating that was “jerry-rigged,” “the worst seats in the house” and “gave the impression that one was in a pinball machine.”

Deaf Students

Please note that while the Americans with Disabilities Act lists people who are deaf or who have hearing loss as disabled, many members of the deaf community dispute this label and consider themselves a linguistic minority. We encourage staff, students, and instructors to learn more about these debates.

Eliminating American Sign Language Course Explanation: Read Source Here

These are Internal Communications about the decision to cut, not cancel (they make a clear distinction between them), the American Sign Language course and how the course was going to be re-offered in the fall, but in the rehabilitation psych/special education program as a “temporary solution.”

American Sign Language Coalition Memo: Read Source Here

This is a memo from the American Sign Language coalition to the Department of Therapeutic Sciences expressing their disappointment with the decision to cancel the American Sign Language course and why the course should be immediately reinstated

Letters Protesting the Elimination of the American Sign Language Course: Read Source Here

These are a series of five letters from various individuals throughout the university protesting the decision to cancel the American Sign Language course. The writers discuss a variety of reasons why the class is important and helped them in their personal and academic journeys.

Badger Herald Article “ASL may satisfy credits:” Read Source Here

Provides an overview of the decision/justification from the School of Education to cancel the American Sign Language course. Additionally, the article mentions efforts from McBurney and other resources to have the ASL course considered a foreign language requirement

Foreign Language Requirement Modification: Read Source Here

This is a series of letters and correspondence regarding a deaf student who petitioned for a modification of the foreign language requirement. The student explained their difficulties with foreign language because of their hearing impairment, and there are records of the back and forth between the student and the committee on getting this request approved.

Student Experiences, Call for Change, and University Reforms

Daily Cardinal Article “Handicapped students face usual trials:” Read Source Here

General overview of several difficulties that students with disabilities encounter on campus. In some student testimonials, there is more focus on students receiving help from individuals and “overcoming” challenges, rather than on the lack of resources.

Daily Cardinal Article “Differently abled: Students with unique needs cope with college life:” Read Source Here

Features two students, one in a wheelchair and one who is deaf. They offer somewhat contradictory experiences, expressing appreciation that the university attempted to provide them with resources, but note that their needs are not always met, and they still encounter barriers. Their use of the word “normal” is important and something to discuss when analyzing the source

1989 Accessibility Report: Read Source Here

This memo details campus accessibility, which was found to be “worse than anticipated.” The memo also has a list of different causes of inaccessibility and calls for the university to act.

Badger Herald Articles “Campus to serve handicapped” & “UW proves justice is blind:” Read Sources Here

These two articles demonstrate how UW provided accommodations and highlighted the experiences of a blind student at the law school. The accommodations for physical disabilities mostly referred to stuff within dormitories and classrooms and most deal with questions of access surrounding wheelchair use

Capital Times Article “No Longer Is UW Mt. Everest For the Physically Handicapped:” Read Source Here

Gives an overview of students with disabilities on campus. There are many quotes from students explaining the difficulties they encountered and the resiliency they showed. It is important to note the language: There is no larger contextualization or conversation of disability within social sutures, and the framing of disability as an interpersonal issue between students and the university

WA1973 Campus Concern The Disabled Student: Read Source Here

A general overview of the history of students with disabilities at the university. The author discusses the challenges students encounter and the steps the university took to try and mitigate these concerns.

Brigid McGuire and the Law School

We strongly encourage students and instructors to read the Center’s Blog Post: Access Denied: Brigid McGuire vs. the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Read Blog Post Here

Dean of Law School Letter: Read Source Here

This is a letter from the Dean of the Law School, Daniel Bernstine, to the Associate Dean of Students, Roger Howard, in response to McGuire sawing the desk. Bernstine claims the actions were “dangerous,” “most troubling” and potentially a “non-academic conduct violation,” and encourages the Dean of Students to investigate this matter.

McGuire Discrimination Complaint: Read Source Here

This is a summary of the legal complaint filed by McGuire against UW for discrimination. In the complaint, McGuire outlines various examples of how the university failed to provide adequate parking and classroom modifications/accommodations, which prohibited their academic success and ability to feel like one of their peers.

Daily Cardinal Articles “McGuire seeks to chop away Bias” and “McGuire’s quest for access leads to injury:” Read Sources Here

These articles from the Daily Cardinal provide information leading up to McGuire’s decision to saw the desk, what happened in the classroom that day, and the aftermath. The second article has a useful timeline that highlights the chain of events.

Department of Education Findings: Read Source Here

This is the Department of Education’s findings from McGuire’s discrimination case against the university. Ultimately, they dismissed McGuire’s complaints for a lack of evidence and concluded that the university provided adequate accommodations.

Primary Source Discussion Questions

History of McBurney Disability Resource Center

  1.   Based on these sources, what was the principal role/function of McBurney? How do you think it differs now? Current mission here
  2.   How effective do you think McBurney was at helping students with disabilities and why?
  3.   Were you surprised by the lack of staffing for McBurney, why or why not? Why do you think there was so little staff? You can use current statistics from McBurney to draw parallels today if applicable. 2023 Stats of students severed and the staff

Statistics:

  1.   What do these statistics reveal about students with disabilities at UW?
  2.   Were you surprised by the services offered, why or why not?

Athletic Discrimination:

  1.   What do these letters reveal about athletics at the university?
  2.   What is the most striking part of the letter to you and why?

Deaf Students:

  1.   Why did the student want the modification and why was the university hesitant to grant its request?
  2.   What does this story represent about the history of access to students with disabilities at UW?
  3.   What do these sources reveal about the importance of the ASL course to deaf and non-deaf students?
  4.   Why was the course cut and what was their justification? Why do you think the SOE made a big deal about its cut and not cancellation?

Student Experiences, Calls for Change, and University Reforms:

  1.   What are some of the crucial grievances of students with disabilities on campus and how did the university try and make the campus more inclusive? Do you think these reforms were successful?
  2.   Do you think there are groups of students with disabilities who are not included in these sources? What does their erasure from the archival records mean in telling of the history of disability? Note the absence of intellectual disabilities, students of color, or examples from before the 1960s in many of these sources.
  3.   Many of the reforms mentioned consider specific alterations to campus. Do you think it’s also necessary to consider society and social structures more broadly when attempting to expand equity across campus? Why or why not?

Brigid McGuire:

  1.   Why do you think McGuire ultimately decided to saw the desk to get access to the law class?
  2.   How did the university respond to McGuire’s requests? Do you think they made law school an accommodative experience?
  3.   Why was McGuire’s lawsuit ultimately dismissed? How does Wathen’s point factor into this decision: “McGuire did not follow procedure to the letter when advocating for change, however, she spent countless hours navigating systems that were supposed to help students with disabilities and running into barriers, both physical and bureaucratic.”

Recommended Secondary Readings

  1.   Rebekah, Taussig. Sitting Pretty: The View from my Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body. (New York: HarperCollins, 2020). Read Book Here
  2.   Public History Project Blog “Access Denied: Brigid McGuire vs. the University of Wisconsin–Madison.” By Emma Wathen. Read Blog Post Here
  3.   Douglas Baynton, “Disability and the Justification of Inequality in American History,” in The New Disability History: American Perspectives, ed. Paul Longmore and Lauri Umansky (New York: New York University Press, 2001), 33–57. Read Chapter Here
    1.   This chapter was groundbreaking in the field of disability history and is almost invariably included on disability history syllabi.
  4.   Scot Danforth, “Becoming the Rolling Quads: Disability Politics at the University of California, Berkeley, in the 1960s,” History of Education Quarterly 58, no. 4 (November 2018): 506–36. Read Article Here
    1.   This article explores disability activism at Berkeley in the 1960s in more depth than Nielsen’s book. It could be a useful comparison to the activism at UW-Madison.
  5.   Kim E. Nielsen, A Disability History of the United States (Boston: Beacon Press, 2012). Read Book Here
    1.   This book offers a great overview of disability history in the United States and is very accessible to undergraduates. The last chapter, “I Guess I’m an Activist. I Think It’s Just Caring: Rights and Rights Denied, 1968–,” covers the period when the sources from the teaching guide were produced.
  6.   Sami Schalk, Black Disability Politics (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2022). Read Book Here
    1. This book analyzes Black disability politics during the period the sources from the teaching guide were produced and can help students answer questions about race and intersectionality.

*The Center for Campus History would like to thank Emma Wathen for recommendations and feedback with the creation of this teaching guide.

Primary Source Citations

McBurney

Memo with recommendations for students with learning disabilities, 1990, McBurney Disability Resource Center records, (1965-2009), Acc. 05/146, Box 3, Folder 14: Learning Disability (L.D.) Programming, UW Archives.

Jamie Euster, “McBurney Center reduces services for disabled,” The Badger Herald, March 6, 1990, UW Archives.

Trey Duffy, “McBurney,” Letter to the Hearld, The Badger Herald, March 13, 1990, UW Archives.

Statistics

McBurney Student Service Requests, 1990, McBurney Disability Resource Center records, (1965-2009), Acc. 05/146, Box 3, Folder 25: Trio, UW Archives.

Learning Disabilities Programming Current and Future Trends at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1990, McBurney Disability Resource Center records, (1965-2009), Acc. 05/146, Box 3, Folder 14: Learning Disability (L.D.) Programming, UW Archives.

Paratransit User Pool, June 1991, McBurney Disability Resource Center records, (1965-2009), Acc. 05/146, Box 3, Folder 18: Paratransit Service, UW Archives.

Athletics

Letter about ticket price disparities for handicapped students, February 8, 1988, McBurney Disability Resource Center records, (1965-2009), Acc. 05/146, Box 4, Folder 27: Accessibility Projects 7/1/88-6/30/89, UW Archives.

James Grasskamp to Blair Mathew, Letter about handicapped hockey seating, October 24 and 28, 1981, McBurney Disability Resource Center records, (1965-2009), Acc. 05/146 40A9, Box 8, Folder 6: 1980-1981, UW Archives.

Deaf Students

Jane Ayer, Elimination of American Sign Language Explanation, May 10, 1990, McBurney Disability Resource Center records, (1965-2009), Acc. 05/146 40A9, Box 22, Folder 15: ASL/Foreign Language, UW Archives.

Memo from the ASL Coalition to Dept. of Therapeutic Sciences Faculty, May 9, 1990, McBurney Disability Resource Center records, (1965-2009), Acc. 05/146 40A9, Box 22, Folder 15: ASL/Foreign Language, UW Archives.

Letters of Support for ASL Course, 1990, McBurney Disability Resource Center records, (1965-2009), Acc. 05/146 40A9, Box 22, Folder 15: ASL/Foreign Language, UW Archives.

Tone Stockenstrom, ASL may satisfy credits,” The Badger Herald, May 10, 1990, UW Archives.

Communications Regarding Modifications of Foreign Language Requirement, 1984-1985, McBurney Disability Resource Center records, (1965-2009), Acc. 05/146, Box 4, Folder 15: Foreign Language Modification Report of the Curriculum Committee of the College of Letters and Science, and Folder 16: Foreign Language Requirement Modifications, UW Archives.

Student Experiences, Call for Change, and University Reforms

N.A., “Handicapped students face usual trials,” The Daily Cardinal, October, 22, 1971, UW Archives.

Sarah Kershaw, “Differently Abled: Students with unique needs cope with college life,” The Daily Cardinal, October, 6, 1986, UW Archives.

Marcia Carlson to Donna Shalala and Mary Rouse, Memo, January 24, 1989, McBurney Disability Resource Center records, (1965-2009), Acc. 05/146, Box 4, Folder 27: Accessibility Projects 7/1/88-6/30/89, UW Archives.

Kathy Thielmann, “Campus to serve handicapped,” The Badger Herald, January 12-16, 1981, UW Archives.

Tom Mannis, “UW proves justice is blind,” The Badger Herald, January 12-16, 1981, UW Archives.

Karl S. Gutknecht and Tom Menzel, “No Longer is UW Mt. Everest for the Physically Handicapped,” The Capital Times, March 10, 1972, 35, UW Archives.

Irene Jacobs, ““Campus Concern: The Disabled Student” Wisconsin Alumnus, March 1973, UW Archives.

Brigid McGuire

Daniel Bernstine to Roger Howard, letter. September 8, 1994, McBurney Disability Resource Center Records (1965–2009), 2005/146 40A9, Box 11, Folder 4: Brigid McGuire/Law School, UW Archives.

Brigid McGuire, “Discrimination Complaint,” October 6, 1994, McBurney Disability Resource Center Records (1965–2009), 2005/146 40A9, Box 11, Folder 3: McGuire, B. Supp. Notes, UW Archives, 3.

Nicole Miller and Kimberly Tucker, “McGuire seeks to chop away bias,” The Daily Cardinal, September 8, 1994, 1, UW Archives.

Ingird Berg, “McGuire’s quest for access leads to injury,” The Daily Cardinal, January, 1995, UW Archives.

Mary Frances O’Shea to David Ward, letter, May 19, 1995, McBurney Disability Resource Center Records (1965–2009), 2005/146 40A9, Box 11, Folder 4: Brigid McGuire/Law School, UW Archives.