Northwest Center

Renton, WA · 
A nonprofit building a disability-inclusive world for schools, businesses, and people, from cradle through career. · 
Founded 1965

Background Information

Since 1965, Northwest Center has led the charge for disability inclusion

Like so many revolutions, it started with injustice. Four Seattle moms just wanted their children with disabilities to learn, but in the early 1960s, kids like theirs were barred from schools. So Janet Taggart, Katie Dolan, Cecile Lindquist, and Evelyn Chapman joined other parents to start “basement schools” in rec rooms and cafeterias at local churches and synagogues.

In 1965, those schools became Northwest Center. In 1971, our founders wrote and passed a law guaranteeing public education to kids with disabilities in Washington state. And in 1975, they helped write and pass the U.S. law now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

Explore how Northwest Center’s founders started an inclusion revolution, a legacy that continues to inspire our work for disability inclusion and anti-ableism today. 

Available opportunities

Displaying 1 - 1 of 1