First-look: Museum of Disability History to open at Viscardi Center

Long Island is home to a series of legendary museums. From the Whaling Museum in Cold Spring Harbor to the American Airpower Museum in Farmingdale to the Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington, the Island rich with curated collections is about to get another.

On Tuesday, the Museum of Disability History will open at The Viscardi Center in Albertson.

"Long Island is really a cradle of disability history and the disability rights movement," says Chris Rosa, CEO of The Viscardi Center. The center is a nonprofit organization that empowers people with disabilities and was founded by Henry Viscardi Jr. in 1952. "But a lot of those experiences and contributions were silent."

An eighth grade class from the adjacent Henry Viscardi School got a sneak preview of the museum a week before it opened to the public. "I feel good about the representation here because not a lot of people know about disabilities," says Maria Shahid, 15, of Plainview. "Everyone needs to be represented so we can be united and have equality."

The new museum highlighting such contributions originally existed in Buffalo but closed during the pandemic. It has been relocated and revamped. The 4,500-square-foot facility, which is fully accessible, features 14 portals containing 130 items on display, allowing visitors to peer into different moments of disability history. Portraits are hung at a lower level for ease of view for wheelchair users.

"It is our hope that schools use the museum as a way to educate kids about the disability experience," Rosa says. "Our students with disabilities at the Henry Viscardi School will have this resource that will help them understand their own history."

ENTER THE MUSEUM

When visitors first enter the museum, they are greeted by a colorful mural created by Viscardi School students with guest artist Brian Farrell. The mural pictures key disability civil rights leaders such as Ed Roberts, Susan M. Daniels and Paul G. Hearne.

As they move deeper into the museum, visitors can peer into Viscardi’s office, which has been preserved behind glass as it appeared until the last day he worked. Pictures of Viscardi with presidents he advised as well as a photo and letter from Eleanor Roosevelt encouraging him to start his organization in 1952 are on display.

14 PORTALS TO EXPLORE

The main room has 14 portals aligned along the walls and in the center of the room.

The first portal captures both verbiage and video of the Capitol Crawl, which took place March 12, 1990, before The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was signed into law on July 26, 1990.

"Advocates with disabilities left their wheelchairs and crawled up the steps of the Capitol building to underscore that barriers are still very prominent throughout American society and all aspects of American life," Rosa says. "They felt it was time for Congress to act now."

Perhaps the most physically striking exhibit is the one featuring the Invacar, a single-seat micro vehicle designed for disabled drivers. "It was a single-seat, three-wheeled vehicle, one horsepower car that was operated by hand controls," Rosa says. The car was produced from 1945 to 1977 by the British Ministry of Health for disabled veterans.

Other displays include Barbie dolls using wheelchairs and with Down syndrome, a Hall Braille typewriter from 1892, New York Yankees pitcher Jim Abbott’s 1990 rookie baseball card (he was born without a right hand and pitched a no-hitter in 1993) and a wooden wicker wheelchair built in the 19th century.

Student Maxwell Kriedter, 13, of Westbury was inspired by the "cool stuff" on display and felt it sent a message.

"What people should learn from this is that anyone can do anything," he says. "There are no limits to what people with disabilities can do because we are all humans."