A Short History of TLG
TLG was founded in 1982 to develop model services for infants, children, and parents with disabilities and their families; being informed in its services by disability culture. In 1985, NIDRR provided funding to demonstrate a model of “peer professional” practice as an innovation of national import. From 1985-88 TLG research videotaped monthly care by mothers with physical disabilities of their infants from birth to toddlerhood, recording the mothers’ inventive solutions to disability obstacles. This ground-breaking documentation was used in custody cases, supported other parents with disabilities, was used in professional training, and informed TLG occupational therapists in developing babycare adaptations.
NIDRR funded TLG’s unique development and provision of babycare adaptations for parents with physical disabilities beginning in 1991. TLG has continued the service since that time; as well as providing training, developing curriculum and assessment tools for occupational therapists, and informing custody cases of parents with physical disability with this expertise.
In 1987 TLG staff began serving as expert witnesses in the custody cases of parents with disabilities in many U.S. states. From 1999 TLG provided training and information that led to the passage of legislation regarding the rights and resources of parents with disabilities in Idaho, Kansas, and California. The Idaho legislation, a model for subsequent legislation, was particularly informed by TLG practice, such as parenting adaptations. From 1999 to the present TLG has trained child welfare systems regarding appropriate practice with parents with disabilities and their children. TLG’s custody work culminated in its contract to guide and write substantial parts of Rocking the Cradle: Ensuring the Rights of Parents with Disabilities (NCD, 2012, PDF).
TLG held one national and three international conferences focused on parents with disabilities. These included numerous parents with disabilities who were leaders in their own countries. From 1993 through 2017 NIDRR/NIDILRR funded TLG as the first national center for parents with diverse disabilities and their children; supporting its research, development, training, technical assistance, and public policy work.
In 2007 TLG presented on families and parents with disabilities before the United Nations. Many years of visits from Japan’s disability specialists led to TLG training in three regions of Japan in 2016. TLG’s work was documented by a visiting team and initiated in Korea from 2019 to 2020. Numerous international visitors were urged to include parenting (i.e. the right to family) while they developed their countries’ disability rights laws, avoiding problems caused by the omission of parenting in the Americans with Disabilities Act.