Black and white photograph of handicapped girl wearing Easter Seals t-shirt, 1956, from United Steelworkers of America (USWA), These Are Our People: Photograph Exhibition collection

Origins of Advocacy: Labor & Union Support (1920-1969)

  • Image shows an article from the magazine The Yarn Carrier about veteran re-employment in the textile industry
    “Veteran Re-employment Program of the Textile Machine Works,” The Yarn Carrier, 1944-1945

Though the labor and disability rights movements in the United States have a complicated history, we can note the role labor and unions played in facilitating visibility and a more accessible workplace for persons with disabilities.* Within its 1956 traveling exhibition, “These Are Our People,” the United Steelworkers of America displayed images of the diverse lives of union members, including workplaces, communities, and family members. The featured photograph shows a young girl in leg braces, wearing an Easterseals t-shirt. Now Eastersealsfounded in 1919provides a variety of services, such as early intervention, inclusive childcare, medical rehabilitation and autism services for young children and their families; job training and coaching, employment placement and transportation services for adults with disabilities, including veterans; adult day services and employment opportunities for older adults 

Reporting in 1944 that out of 850 employees serving in the Armed Forces during World War II, the Textile Machine Works saw 25 men returning to work—most with a physical disability. To support this returning workforce, the company stated: “Every effort must be made to place a handicap ex-service employee on a type of job that he can perform with existing equipment and facilities” (The Yarn Carrier, 1944-1945)Along with Berkshire Knitting Mills and Narrow Fabric Company, the Textile Machine Works industries comprised the Wyomissing Industries, which was the largest manufacturer in the world of ladies full-fashioned hosiery from 1920 through the 1940s. Their efforts to facilitate employment for physically handicapped persons (both ex-servicemen and others) were recognized by the National Employment of the Physically Handicapped Worker Committee with Awards for Merit in 1949. 

“Veteran Re-employment Program of the Textile Machine Works,” The Yarn Carrier, 1944-1945 Penn State Berks Campus collections

“Textile and Berkshire Cited for Aiding Physically Handicapped,” The Yarn Carrier, 1949-1950, Penn State Berks Campus collections

Handicapped Girl, 1956, United Steelworkers of America (USWA), These Are Our People: Photograph Exhibition Collection, 1972

 

*See: Bagenstos, Samuel R. “Disability Rights and Labor: Is This Conflict Really Necessary?” Indiana L. J. 92, no. 1 (2017): 277-98. Additional resource: “Occupational Characteristics of Disabled Workers, By Disabling Condition,” by U.S. Public Health Service. Division of Occupational Health, 1967.