About the Coalition

“The lifting power of many wings can achieve twice the distance of flying alone”

Who We Are

The Coalition and its member organizations represent Tennesseans of every age, economic background, political persuasion and disability. Some are disability-specific groups like the Autism Society of Middle Tennessee while others are cross-disability and may focus on specific issues such as independent living, employment, or assistive technology. Each is committed to collaboration toward improving the lives of all Tennesseans who are touched by a disability.

Membership

The Coalition offers two types of membership 1) organizational and 2) individual. Organizations may join by paying an annual fee determined by a sliding scale that is based on an organization’s budget. Member organizations typically have the right to select a representative to the Coalition’s Board of Directors.

Individual membership in the Coalition is $10 annual and may be waived if there is a financial hardship. Likewise the Board also has an elected representative for individual members. To learn more contact Courtney Jenkins-Atnip.

Early History - Origins

The tough thing about history is that everyone has slightly different memories and trying to pin down the earliest, most exact details of an organization’s founding can be difficult.

In the earliest years, there was an informal, adhoc group of disability leaders and volunteers known as the Coalition for Community Services. Their goal was to assure that Tennesseans with disabilities had access to home- and community-based services.

The group started small but grew quickly as other organizations learned of the effort. The very first meeting to talk about formalizing the group took place in 1988. Among the factors driving this decision to formalize:

1. The need for structure as more partners came and board, and

2. Roger Blue had recently returned from a conference where the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities called for statewide disability organizations to form coalitions in order to better pool their resources and pursue common goals.

Spearheading the effort to formalize were four groups:

• Arc of Tennessee led by Roger Blue
• United Cerebral Palsy of Middle Tennessee led by Pat Huber
• Autism Society of America – Tennessee led by Joe Marshall
• Developmental Disabilities Council led by Wanda Willis

The first capacity-building grant was awarded to the Coalition in 1989 by the Tennessee Developmental Disabilities Council as the Coalition changed its name to the Coalition for Tennesseans with Disabilities. The Arc of Davidson County provided matching funds for the grant and over the next year a corporate charter was filed, a mission statement developed, a membership brochure drafted, by-laws adopted, a steering committee created, and topical task forces were developed.

On November 1, 1990, the first executive director was hired – Carol Westlake. In addition, the number of member organizations grew to ten including: People First of Tennessee, the League for the Hearing Impaired (now League for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing), the Community Rehabilitation Agencies (now TNCO), and several local Arc chapters.

The first original legislation tackled by the Coalition was the Family Support Act in 1991. The legislation, drafted and lobbyied for by the Coalition, was passed by the General Assembly in 1992.

Also in 1991, the Coalition received a grant from the Council to set up a regional disability public awareness network, with nine public awareness liaisons. The project was headed by Dara Howe, who generated public awareness materials and support for local events on a regular basis as well as coordinated efforts of the nine regional liaisons.

Building on these efforts the Coalition membership grew to include dozens of organizations and in 1996 the name was changed to the Tennessee Disability Coalition.