(Posted November 4, 2002)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Duane Stroman, professor of sociology at Juniata College, will speak about the history and development of basic rights for those with physical and mental disabilities in the talk "The Disability Rights Movement" as part of the Bookend Seminar lecture series at 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 6 in the Neff Lecture Hall in the von Liebig Center for Science on the Juniata campus.

The lecture is free and open to the public. The Bookend Seminar series features afternoon lectures each month by Juniata College faculty.

Stroman will trace the disability rights movement from around 1960 when state institutions discharged many disabled patients due to funding cutbacks, to the movement to establish the disabled as a protected minority under the Civil Rights Act, and to a consumer-based movement that allows disabled persons to gain greater control over the services they use.

Stroman's talk is based on his soon-to-be-published book, "The Disability Rights Movement: From Deinstitutionalization to Self-Determination," which is scheduled for publication in January 2003.

Stroman joined Juniata's faculty in 1963. He earned a bachelor's degree from Ohio Wesleyan University and earned both a master's degree and doctoral degree from Boston University. He also is the author of "Mental Retardation in Social Context."

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.