Gunnar Dybwad
Born
Leipzig, Germany
DiedSeptember 13, 2001
Needham, Massachusetts
NationalityGerman
Alma materUniversity of Halle
Occupation(s)Professor, Civil Rights Activist
Notable workChallenges in Mental Retardation
SpouseRosemary Ferguson Dybwad

Gunnar Dybwad (1909–2001) was an American professor and advocate for the rights of people with disabilities, particularly developmental disabilities. He is best known for his support for the social model of disability, reframing disability accommodations as a matter of civil rights, not medical treatment.[1] The American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities gives out the Dybwad Humanitarian Award annually in his honor.

Personal life

Dybwad was born in Leipzig, Germany, and lived in Germany until 1934.[1] He moved to the United Kingdom, then to the United States[2] where he settled in Wellesley, Massachusetts with his wife, Rosemary, and their two children.[1]

Being interested in architectural planning and disabilities, Dybwad remodeled his home to be wheelchair accessible at the age of 82. He and his wife wished to die at home and it was done as an "anti-nursing home" strategy. He converted the downstairs of his two-story home to function as a "self-contained unit" should they find it difficult to maneuver the stairs.[3]

Dybwad died (age 92) of natural causes at the Wingate Rehabilitation Center in Needham, Massachusetts.[4]

Education

Dybwad studied law and political science at University of Halle in Germany,[4] where he earned a Doctorate in Law in 1934.[1] Dybwad graduated from the New York School of Social Work in 1939.[1]

Career

A quarter-profile photograph of Gunnar Dybwad. He has grey hair laid over to the photographer's side and a grey Van Dyke beard. He has a deeply lined face and is looking slightly down. He is wearing a suite and a maroon bow tie. The background is totally black.
Gunnar Dybwad at the TASH Annual Conference, Boston, Massachusetts, December 1997

At the start of his career, Dybwad focused his attention on the humane treatment for people in the criminal justice and child welfare systems. His book, Theorie und Praxis des fascistischen Strafvollzugs (Theory and Practice of the Fascist Penitentiary), explored the practices and theories of Italy's (Fascist) penal system of the early 1930s.[5]

He also served as director of several organizations: Child Welfare Program, Michigan (Director, 1943–1951),[1][4] National Association for Retarded Children (executive director, 1957–1963),[4][1][6] Child Study Association of America (executive director, 1951–1957)[1][6]

Gunnar Dybwad is well known for his international leadership in the field of rehabilitation and medicine, advocating for disability rights and for ethical and legal protections.[7]

From 1964 to 1967, Dybwad and his wife directed the "mental retardation project" of the International Union of Child Welfare, Geneva, Switzerland.[4][8]

In 1967, Dybwad became the founding director of the Starr Center for Mental Retardation at the Heller School for Policy and Management, Brandeis University.[1][9]

In 1973, Dybwad was a founding member of the American Bar Association's (ABA) commission on the Mentally Disabled. Other members included Chesterfield Smith, Jerome J. Shestack, David L. Bazelon, Charles R. Halpern, Jonas Robitcher, Saleem A. Shah, McNeill Smith, Helen Wright, and Alan A. Stone.[10]

He served as president of Inclusion International from 1978 to 1982. The organization, which he and his wife co-founded, assisted parent and self-advocacy groups.[4][9] He is known for is support of families of children with disabilities [11] and with the development of young professionals in the fields.

Dybwad retired from Brandeis in 1974 due to mandatory age limitations.[9] After leaving Brandeis, Dybwad taught a course on developmental disabilities at Syracuse University and was a lifetime Associate of the Center on Human Policy, Syracuse University.[1]

In 1988 Dybwad appeared on an episode of This Old House showcasing the modifications he had made to his house to make it wheelchair accessible.[12]

Normalization and Integration

Dybwad believed that people with developmental and intellectual disabilities best responded to integration into the community. Maximal integration meant providing these people with opportunities to live in "ordinary family settings," and have access to "typical community services."[13] Although, he was against "custodial care", he understood the need for a range of programs and residential facilities to meet the requirements of a broad array individuals.[14] At the 1959 Convention of the National Association for Retarded Children, he called for "research in problems of management, of residential care, including physical plant and equipment."[15]

In 1979, he co-authored an article called "Unnecessary Coercion: An End to Involuntary Civil Commitment of Retarded Persons" in which he argued for the abolition of the often forced and involuntary placement of people with intellectual disabilities into state facilities.[16][17]

"Professor Dybwad was one of the first to articulate the issues facing people with disabilities as civil rights issues and not only as medical and social issues. He was a champion of the rights of people with disabilities to have full access to a normal life that everyone wants to enjoy"

— Marty Krauss, director of the Starr Center"[9]

Citizen Advocacy

Dybwad supported volunteer groups and citizen advocacy, whose purpose was to "demand and obtain" services for people with disabilities. He brought an international perspective to the issue.[18][6] In the 1950s, Dybwad, representing the Association of Retarded Citizens (known as The Arc), helped to organize family members and friends in efforts to "liberate people" from custodial institutions.[19] He played a major role in encouraging the 1972 Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children (PARC) to file disability rights litigation with the federal court.[9] Among the top concerns of the group was the right of people with disabilities to receive public education.[9] This action, along with others—including Pennhurst State School vs. Halderman (1981) and Board of Education vs. Rowley (1982) resulted in "groundbreaking" changes to due process and equal protection for the treatment and education of people with disabilities."[20][9]

Awards

The American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities gives out the Dybwad Humanitarian Award, named after him, to individuals involved with "culturally responsive programs that have succeeded in full community inclusion and participation".[21]

Dybwad, himself, received the following:

  • Kennedy Foundation International Award (1986)[22]
  • The Adaptive Environments Center Lifetime Achievement Award in Universal Design (First Recipient, 1994)[23]
  • Honorary Doctorate, Temple University[4]
  • Honorary Doctorate, University of Maryland[4]
  • National Historical Trust on Mental Retardation Honoree[24]

Selected articles

  • Parent Education: Courage. And the Parent Educator. (with Marion L. Faegre)[25]
  • Reviewed Work(s): Personality in the Making—The Fact-Finding Report of the Mid-century White House Conference on Children and Youth by Helen Leland Witner and Ruth Kotinsky[26]
  • Unnecessary Coercion: An End to Involuntary Civil Commitment of Retarded Persons.[16]

Books

  • "Action Implications, USA Today", chapter in Changing Patterns, editors Kugel and Wolfensberer (1969)[27][18]
  • Challenges in Mental Retardation (Columbia University Press, 1964) ISBN 978-0-231-02702-1
  • Responding to the Challenge: Current Issues and International Developments in Developmental Disabilities, with Hank A. Bersani (Brookline, 1999)[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Pace, Eric (September 20, 2001). "Gunnar Dybwad, 92; Early advocate for the disabled. Obituary". New York Times. No. Late Edition (East Coast). New York. p. A.29. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  2. ↑ Pelka, Fred (2012). "Institutions, Part 1". What We Have Done: An Oral History of the Disability Rights Movement. University of Massachusetts Press. pp. 48–60. ISBN 9781558499188. JSTOR j.ctt5vk2js.7.
  3. ↑ Sit, Mary (September 7, 1991). "With Seniors in mind a home can be made more suitable for the elderly". Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. p. 37.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Benscoter, Jana (September 22, 2001). "Gunnar Dybwad, Professor, advocate for rights of disabled". Boston Globe. No. Third Edition. Boston, Massachusetts. p. B.7.
  5. ↑ Monachesi, Elio D. (October 1936). "Theorie und Praxis des fascistischen Strafvolizugs. By Gunnar Dybwad. Bonn: Ludwig Rohrscheid, 1934". American Sociological Review. American Sociological Association. 1 (5): 868. doi:10.2307/2084192. JSTOR 2084192.
  6. 1 2 3 "Gunnar Dybwad, 92; Advocate for rights of mentally disabled". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. September 24, 2001. p. 7.
  7. ↑ Dybwad, Gunnar. (1986). Ethical and legal problems in rehabilitation and medicine. In: The Changing Rehabilitation World: Into the 21st Century (pp.10-15). NY, NY: United Cerebral Palsy of New York City, Inc.
  8. ↑ "Rosemary Ferguson Dybwad, 82; expert on mental retardation". Boston Globe. No. City Edition. Boston, Massachusetts. November 6, 1992. p. 31. Archived from the original on April 27, 2018.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 McLellan, Dennis (22 September 2001). "Gunnar Dybwad, 92; Early Advocate for Civil Rights of Mentally Disabled". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California.
  10. ↑ Parry, John W. (September–October 1996). "Mental and Physical Disability Rights: The Formative Years and Future Prospects". Mental and Physical Disability Law Reporter. American Bar Association. 20 (5): 627–633. JSTOR 20784739.
  11. ↑ Dybwad, Gunnar. (1981). The rediscovery of the family. Mental Retardation, 32(1): 18-30.
  12. ↑ This Old House - Season 10 - Episode 14
  13. ↑ Fox, Charles (2003). "Debating Deinstitionalization: The Fire at Kew Cottages in 1996 and the Idea of Community". Health and History. Australian and New Zealand Society of the History of Medicine, Inc. 5 (2, Histories of Psychiatry after Deinstitutionalisation): 37–59. doi:10.2307/40111452. JSTOR 40111452.
  14. ↑ Carey, Allison C. (2009). "The Rise of the Parents' Movement and the Special Child". On the Margins of Citizenship: Intellectual Disability and Civil Rights in Twentieth-Century America. Temple University Press. pp. 105–133. ISBN 9781592136971. JSTOR j.ctt14bs8th.9.
  15. ↑ Rolf, Jean (July 26, 2006). "Readers Respond to the 'Broken Home' series". Oakland Tribune. Oakland, California. p. 1.
  16. 1 2 Dybwad, Gunnar; Herr, Stanley S. (April 1979). "Unnecessary Coercion: An End to Involuntary Civil Commitment of Retarded Persons". Stanford Law Review. 31 (4, Symposium: Mentally Retarded People and the Law): 753–765. doi:10.2307/1228424. JSTOR 1228424. PMID 10242375.
  17. ↑ Rosenberg, Norman S.; Friedman, Paul R. (April 1979). "Epilogue: Developmental Disability Law: A Look Into the Future". Stanford Law Review. 31 (4, Symposium: Mentally Retarded People and the Law): 817–829. doi:10.2307/1228428. JSTOR 1228428.
  18. 1 2 Mandelbaum, Arthur (July 1974). "Reviewed Work(s): Citizen Advocacy and Protective Services for the Impaired and Handicapped by Wolf Wolfensberger and Helen Zauha". Social Work. Oxford University Press. 19 (4): 501. JSTOR 23712782.
  19. ↑ Fleischer, Doris Zames; Zames, Frieda (2011). ""Wheelchair Bound" and "The Poster Child"". The Disability Rights Movement: From Charity to Confrontation. Temple University Press. pp. 1–13. ISBN 9781439907436. JSTOR j.ctt14bt7kv.9.
  20. ↑ Pelka, Fred (2012). What We Have Done: An Oral History of the Disability Rights Movement. University of Massachusetts Press. JSTOR j.ctt5vk2js.12.
  21. ↑ AAIDD Awards page
  22. ↑ Wolfensberger, Wolf (1999). "A contribution to the history of Normalization, with primary emphasis on the establishment of Normalization in North America between 1967-1975". In Flynn, Robert J.; Lemay, Raymond (eds.). A Quarter-Century of Normalization and Social Role Valorization:Evolution and Impact. Ottawa, Canada: University of Ottawa Press. p. 73. doi:10.2307/j.ctt1cn6s45. JSTOR j.ctt1cn6s45. S2CID 53385279.
  23. ↑ Kindleberger, Richard; Sit, Mary (November 20, 1994). "Lots & Blocks". Boston Globe. No. City Edition. Boston, Massachusetts. p. A21.
  24. ↑ Taylor, Steven J. (2008). ""Scandal Results in Real Reforms"". Acts of Conscience: World War II, Mental Institutions, and Religious Objectors. Syracuse University Press. pp. 360–380. JSTOR j.ctt1j5d899.21.
  25. ↑ Faegre, Marion L.; Dybwad, Gunnar (May 1954). "Parent Education: Courage. And the Parent Educator". Marriage and Family Living. National Council on Family Relations. 16 (2): 175–176. doi:10.2307/347778. JSTOR 347778.
  26. ↑ Dybwad, Gunnar (January 1953). "Reviewed Work(s): Personality in the Making—The Fact-Finding Report of the Mid-century White House Conference on Children and Youth by Helen Leland Witner and Ruth Kotinsky". Social Work Journal. Oxford University Press. 34 (1): 37. JSTOR 23712310.
  27. ↑ Dybwad, Gunnar (January 10, 1969). "Action Implications, USA Today". In Kugel, Robert B.; Wolfensberger, Wolf (eds.). Changing Patterns in Residential Service for the Mentally Retarded: A President's Committee on Mental Retardation Monograph. Washington, D.C. pp. 383–426. Retrieved 23 April 2018.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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