Moving toward citizenship : voluntary disability organizations and the disability rights movement in the Maritimes, 1945-1982

Abstract

The post-war period saw tremendous medical and technological advancements with regard to disability in Canada. With these advancements, persons with disabilities began to express a desire for greater community access, employment and educational opportunities. This period also saw a proliferation of voluntary disability organizations in Canada. Many of these groups began as national in scope, and soon had provincial affiliates throughout the country. This thesis examines the evolution of disability organizations throughout Canada and the Maritimes, from their beginnings as primarily service and support-oriented groups, through to their role as key components in the Canadian disability rights movement beginning in the 1970s. This thesis contends that the movement in the Maritimes served as an important facet of the larger national one, and that the organizations that sprung from it served as an effective vehicle through which Canadian disability rights advocates expressed a desire for a greater sense of citizenship.