Disability impacts billions of people in the world. A fifth of the world’s population is experiencing a significant disability and over one billion have dealt with some form of disability. Helping aid 1.4 million children and adults with disabilities is Easterseals, a nonprofit organization dedicated to “taking on disability together”. They change the way the world defines and views disability by making positive differences in people’s lives every day.

The groundbreaking organization was established in 1936, which now marks 82 years of service. The organization started out of a tragedy. In 1907, a man named Edgar Allen grieved his son who died in a car accident. Allen felt that it was not right that the hospital did not have the adequate medical services to save his son. The loss of his son prompted him to sell his business and begin fundraising for a new hospital in his hometown.

Once the new hospital was made, he found out that children with disabilities were often hidden from the public. It meant the world to him that he could make sure that even just one person would not suffer from not having adequate treatment.

Through his hospital, Allen realized that children with disabilities were often kept hidden from public view. He looked forward to making a change when he

knew what was going on. In 1919, he founded the National Society for Crippled Children, the first organization of its kind. Allen’s organization, now known as Easterseals, has influenced the way disability was treated in the most positive way possible.

Allen created something wonderful out of his own tragedy and now 1.4 million people receiving help from Easterseals are forever changed. Today, the organization reaches across America with 73 affiliates. The organization offers a wide range of treatments and is not limited by specific types of disabilities. They have impacted so many families around the world. Easterseals changed views on disability and to this day still offers so many treatments for numerous disabilities.