70 Years of Advocacy
For 70 years, The Arc of Indiana has worked alongside Hoosiers with intellectual and developmental disabilities, families, advocates, and partners to protect rights, expand choices, and strengthen community living.
Our history shows what is possible when people work together for change. And though the work has rarely been easy, every step forward has meant more access, greater opportunity, and a stronger voice for people with IDD and their families.
See how far we have come, and help us imagine what we can accomplish next.
Read more about what this anniversary means to us in our Fall Newsletter
Why Our History Matters
Progress does not happen all at once.
It happens when families organize, self-advocates speak up, communities open doors, lawmakers listen, and people keep pushing systems to do better.
The Arc of Indiana’s history includes major steps forward in:
Education Early intervention Community living Medicaid waivers
Self-advocacy Future planning Employment training
Supported decision-making Investment in the direct support workforce
But this history is not just about what changed on paper.
It is about what those changes made possible in people’s lives:
- Children learning in school
- Families staying together
- People moving into their communities
- Workers gaining new opportunities
- Self-advocates having a stronger voice in decisions that affect them
Every step forward started with people
who believed Indiana could do better.
That belief has carried this work for 70 years. It is still what moves us forward today. And you can be a part of building what comes next by sharing our 70th Anniversary Campaign
The Beginning of a Movement
Built by families. Carried forward by community.
The Arc of Indiana began with families and advocates who wanted a better future for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
In 1955, a meeting was held at I.U. Medical Center in Indianapolis to establish a state association. One year later, the Indiana Association for Retarded Children (the terminology used at that time) was formally organized. By 1960, the organization had opened an office in Indianapolis, with Dorothy Burnside and Ilene Younger serving as the first volunteer staff and lobbyists.
Those early years helped build a statewide movement focused on changing laws, expanding services, and challenging the idea that people with disabilities should be separated from their families and communities.
As Joe Newman, Acting President in 1955, said:
“It is not where we stand, but where we are going that counts.”
Expanding Rights and Community Support
Opening doors that had too often been closed.
Over the decades, The Arc of Indiana has been part of efforts that helped move Indiana toward greater access, inclusion, and community living.
In 1963, landmark legislation allowed local property tax funding for community programs, helping local chapters and services grow across the state. In 1969, Indiana passed a law mandating education for all school-age children with disabilities. In 1980, a law was passed prohibiting local zoning ordinances from blocking the establishment of group homes.
These changes mattered because they helped open doors to school, home, neighborhoods, services, and community life.
Each step forward meant more Hoosiers with IDD could be seen not as people to be placed somewhere else, but as people who belonged in their schools, homes, workplaces, and communities.
Helping Families Stay Together
Advocacy can change what is possible at home.
One of the most meaningful parts of The Arc of Indiana’s history is the fight for services that support people at home and in their communities.
In 1991, legislation passed allowing parental income and resources to be disregarded when determining Medicaid eligibility for certain children under age 18 who were in a Medicaid-certified facility or enrolled, or in the enrollment process, for a Medicaid Waiver. Before this change, some parents could be forced to give up custody of their children in order to access needed services.
That change helped make Indiana’s Medicaid Waiver for home and community-based services possible.
This is what advocacy can mean in real life: families staying together, people receiving support at home, and communities becoming places where more people can live, grow, and belong.
Strengthening Self-Advocacy and Family Support
People closest to the issues must be part of the change.
The movement has always been strongest when people with disabilities and families are at the center.
In 1977, Glenda Hall of Shelbyville became the first person with a developmental disability appointed to the organization’s board. In 1990, the first meeting of Self-Advocates of Indiana was held, creating an organization led by and for people with IDD.
In 1998, what would become The Arc Advocacy Network began as family advocates provided information and support to families and individuals whose loved ones were transitioning from state institutions to community residential programs.
That commitment continues today through advocacy, education, resources, and support for families navigating complex systems.
Planning for the Future
Helping families plan with confidence.
Families have always asked hard questions about the future.
Who will help my loved one?
How can we protect benefits?
What supports will be there when we are not?
In 1987, local chapters and the Indiana Governor’s Council for People with Disabilities contributed start-up funding for The Arc of Indiana Master Trust. Today, The Arc Master Trust is recognized as a leading special needs trust in the country.
The Trust grew from a real need families were facing and continues to help people plan for the future while protecting access to essential supports.
Expanding Opportunity
More than services. More than support. A fuller life.
The future of disability advocacy is not only about access to services. It is also about opportunity.
In 2016, The Arc of Indiana’s Erskine Green Training Institute opened, and the first group of students graduated
on March 19.
EGTI was created to help people with disabilities build job skills, gain confidence, and prepare for employment in real workplaces.
It reflects a belief that has carried through 70 years of advocacy: Hoosiers with IDD should have opportunities to learn, work, contribute, and be recognized for their strengths.
Protecting Choice and Decision-Making
A stronger voice in decisions that shape life.
Advocacy is also about protecting a person’s right to be heard.
In 2019, legislation passed recognizing Supported Decision-Making Agreements as an alternative to guardianship. The law also requires less restrictive alternatives, including supported decision-making, to be considered before a court appoints a guardian.
This matters because people with disabilities should have support to understand choices, communicate preferences, and remain as involved as possible in decisions that affect their lives.
The Work Continues
Seventy years later, there is still more to do.
The Arc of Indiana’s history includes many important milestones, but the work is not finished.
Families are still navigating complicated systems. People with IDD are still fighting for full inclusion. Communities are still learning what true belonging looks like. Indiana is still working to build a disability support system that is stable, person-centered, and ready for the future.
In 2021, The Arc of Indiana helped achieve bipartisan support for an $80 million appropriation to increase Direct Support Professional wages — another reminder that strong community support depends on investing in the people who make that support possible.
Every win has mattered. Every step forward has opened new possibilities. And every generation has a role in carrying the work forward.
Help shape what comes next
The Arc of Indiana’s history belongs to the people who built it: self-advocates, families, chapters, partners, professionals, and communities who refused to accept that “good enough” was enough.
As we look ahead, we remain focused on the belief that started this movement: Hoosiers with intellectual and developmental disabilities deserve rights, choices, opportunities, and support to live fully in their communities.
We have come a long way. Now we have the chance to imagine what more we can accomplish together.