UNITED HANDICAPPED FEDERATION:

A group of disabled people from Minnesota, motivated by a leadership training seminar, which they attended in October, 1973, founded the United Handicapped Federation (UHF) as a social action organization composed of, governed by, and working for people with disabilities. One of the group's primary objectives was to form a coalition of disability organizations serving Minnesotans and some 33 groups gathered for the UHF constituting convention on September 7, 1974.

The organization's governing structure was established with a voluntary executive board and a delegate assembly composed of member groups that met quarterly and at an annual convention to vote on priority issues and policy decisions.

Throughout its history, UHF targeted its efforts through task forces focused on specific issues and areas of activity including education, leadership training, accessibility, housing, public transportation, employment, medical issues, and legislative initiatives. The organization became known as the Disability Rights Alliance in 1992 and ceased operation in 1993.

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The collection is composed of correspondence; minutes; financial records; the Federation's constitution and bylaws; officer, membership, and committee rosters; grant proposals; legal documents; reports; brochures; newspaper and magazine clippings; newsletters; and printed matter. The internal operation, management, and finances of UHF are documented; however, the bulk of the material reflects the Federation's leadership and participation in issues and projects involving the greater handicapped community. The most prominent of these are described below.

Transit, 1974-1993.

UHF's campaign for fully accessible mass transit in the Twin Cities metropolitan area (1974-1992) is the most thoroughly documented issue in the collection. Topics include a demonstration project implemented in 1974 by the Metropolitan Transit Commission (MTC), known as Project Mobility, which provided limited telephone-request transportation service for the handicapped (1975-1979); a lawsuit filed by UHF against MTC (1975-1980) which halted the purchase of a large number of inaccessible buses and resulted in the MTC's promise to make public transportation on a call-in basis available to all disabled people within the metropolitan area; Metro Mobility, the transportation service that succeeded Project Mobility, and UHF's role in securing and maintaining the service (1980-1992); the implementation of accessible mainline buses (1981-1992); and the development of light-rail transit (1987-1990).

Utility Rate Cases, 1980-1988.

UHF was involved in several years of testimony and intervention related to utility rates and the deregulation of the telephone industry. In 1982 UHF secured an agreement with Northwestern Bell to offer a loan program for the purchase of special equipment designed to minimize motion or hearing disabilities.

Beginning in 1980 UHF participated in hearings before the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission requesting a medical usage rate from the Minnesota Power and Light Co. of Duluth and Northern States Power Company (NSP). After several years of appeals, hearings, and the intervention of the Minnesota attorney general's office the request was denied by the State hearing examiner (1988).

UHF also participated in the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group's Fair Phones Campaign (1986-1988). The campaign's purpose was to oppose Northwestern Bell's proposals during the 1987 legislature for complete deregulation of local and long-distance phone service. The campaign was successful in maintaining regulation of residential telephone rates and went on to broaden its scope to include other utilities.

Medical Issues, 1977-1993.

The personal care attendant program (PCA) and medical ethics are two of the more significant medical issues represented in the records. UHF promoted the creation of the PCA program, which enabled disabled people to live independently at home, and worked with various state agencies to establish licensure rules and secure funding for the program.

In the field of medical ethics UHF stood as a strong opponent of the withdrawal of medical treatment on the basis of physical or mental disability. The organization participated in a number of legal cases including those of Sharon Seibert (1982-1983), Nancy Ellen Jobes (1986), Sharon Kowalski and Karen Thompson, Nancy Cruzan (1989), and Christine Busalacchi (1991).

Accessibility, 1974-1992.

UHF endeavored to ensure that public facilities were accessible, and several such projects are documented in the records. The Minneapolis skyways were UHF's first target, and the outcome of a demonstration staged by UHF in a skyway was the elimination of skyway barriers (1974). The following year UHF engaged in a campaign to make Orchestra Hall (Minneapolis) accessible and won a partial victory with the installation of a platform lift.

Another accomplishment related to accessibility centered on the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. Following an extensive period of negotiation (1984-1985) UHF secured an agreement with the Metropolitan Sports Commission to add two airlocked chambers and doors to the Metrodome in order to avoid problems encountered by the disabled and elderly due to wind pressure.

Employment, 1975-1990.

Another of UHF's central goals was to develop and implement solutions to employment problems encountered by the disabled. Projects illustrative of this effort included an employment issues survey conducted by UHF with employers and people with disabilities (1984-1987); a three-year campaign for the inclusion of a uniform code of personnel policy in the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation's certification standards for sheltered workshops (1977-1980); work disincentives; and the unionization of sheltered workshops.

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These papers are organized into the following four sections:

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. United Handicapped Federation. Organizational Records. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 15,000

Processing Information:

Processed by: Frank Hennessey, December 1994.

Catalog ID number: 990017313970104294

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Metropolitan Transit Commission. Handicapped/disabled files, 1973-1977, are in the Minnesota State Archives.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Barrier-free design -- Minnesota.

Discrimination against people with disabilities -- Minnesota.

Electric utilities -- Rates -- Law and legislation -- Minnesota.

Euthanasia.

Labor unions -- Minnesota -- Sheltered workshops.

Local transit -- Minnesota -- Twin Cities Metropolitan Area.

Paratransit services -- Minnesota -- Twin Cities Metropolitan Area.

People with disabilities -- Minnesota -- Societies, etc.

People with disabilities -- Transportation -- Minnesota -- Twin Cities Metropolitan Area.

People with disabilities -- Employment -- Minnesota.

People with disabilities -- Energy assistance -- Law and legislation -- Minnesota.

People with disabilities -- Home care -- Law and legislation -- Minnesota.

People with disabilities -- Housing -- Minnesota.

People with disabilities -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- Minnesota.

People with disabilities -- Long-term care -- Minnesota.

People with disabilities -- Medical care -- Minnesota.

People with disabilities -- Services for -- Minnesota.

Public buildings -- Barrier-free design -- Minnesota.

Sheltered workshops -- Minnesota -- Personnel management.

Sheltered workshops -- Law and legislation -- Minnesota.

Telecommunication -- Deregulation -- Minnesota.

Telephone assistance programs for the poor -- Minnesota.

Trials (Euthanasia)

Wages -- People with disabilities -- Minnesota.

Persons:

Bjerkesett, Michael.

Busalacchi, Christine.

Cruzan, Nancy.

Ehrlichmann, Michael.

Hoyt, Jane D.

Jobes, Nancy Ellen.

Kowalski, Sharon.

Lasoff, Susan.

Siebert, Sharon.

Thompson, Karen.

Organizations:

Metro Mobility (Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, Minn.)

Metropolitan Transit Commission.

Minnesota Fair Phones Coalition.

Minnesota. Regional Transit Board.

Northern States Power Company (Minnesota)

Northwestern Bell Telephone Company.

Project Mobility (Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, Minn.)

United States. -- Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

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