Call Number:

SCRC 243

Repository:

Temple University Libraries: Special Collections Research Center

Extent:

2.5 linear feet (3 boxes + 1 map folder)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Leona Fialkowski Papers, SCRC 243, Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Date:

1968-2006 (inclusive)

Creator:

Fialkowski, Leona, 1923-1996

Form:

Press releases, Correspondence, Clippings, Legal documents, and Newsletters

Abstract:

Leona Fialkowski was a lifelong disability rights pioneer and activist in Philadelphia. She was married to Marion Fialkowski in 1945, and they had eleven children: Barbara, Mary, Anthony, Michael, Walter, James, Eileen, Joan, John, David, Kathryn. Beginning in the 1960s, she worked for equal protections of rights for her sons, Walter and David, and other children similarly born with developmental disabilities. Leona's early activism focused particularly on the right to education as well as recognition of their civil rights, more generally. In 1968, Leona started the first public school classroom in Philadelphia for children with complex/multiple disabilities including intellectual disabilities. From 1972 to 1989, Leona and husband Marion were involved in a number of landmark education court cases including the PA PARC Consent Decree, the Urban Model of Education, and the restoration of $7.5 million in state funds to education of children with disabilities. As her sons aged, Leona focused on community living, employment, and quality of care. She worked as a parent advocate in the "Office of the Special Master" for the Pennhurst dispersal, and she served on the board of Temple University's Woodhaven Center, a two-year program to prepare men and women with intellectual disabilities for independent life in group homes or community living arrangements, in place of institutionalization or long term hospitalization.

The Leona Fialkowski Papers contain documentation of Fialkowski's experience navigating and fighting for educational opportunities, community living, and employment for her sons and other people with developmental disabilities. The bulk of the collection consists of chronologically arranged files containing a mix of correspondence, related organizations' newsletters, legal records, news clippings, published articles, and reference material that shed light on the Fialkowski's experiences as well as that of people with physical and intellectual disabilities.

Of note are records relating to Civil Action 71-42, Public Law 94-142 (also known as IDEA and FAPE) which resulted from class action lawsuits filed against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and School District of Philadelphia, which guaranteed public education to children with intellectual disabilities in Pennsylvania. This includes PARC v Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and Fialkowski v. Shapp. There are a few records relating to the closing of Pennhurst State Hospital and other civil suits. There are also occasional newsletter issues and documentation of the Central Parent Training Coalition and the Task Force for Vocational Skills Training For Persons with Severe Handicaps in the School District of Philadelphia, the Woodhaven Center at Temple University, the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, and other organizations.

The collection is arranged roughly as it came into the repository. Records are grouped as follows: chronologically arranged files, subject files, and personal records.