Nation's only museum depicting history of people with disabilities opens next year on Long Island

The Albertson-based Viscardi Center will soon be home to the nation’s only museum dedicated to the history of people with disabilities, Nassau County and school officials announced Friday.

Nassau County is allocating $600,000 to establish and promote the museum at the Viscardi Center, the nonprofit organization and school that helps disabled children and adults with life skills and job placement for independent living.

The Museum of Disability History is relocating from its former home in Buffalo, where it was established for 22 years before it closed in late 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Viscardi Center and county officials advocated to relocate and reopen the museum on Long Island, where it can serve the general public, including 500,000 Long Islanders living with disabilities and 1 million people with disabilities in New York City.

"We see this as a great way to ensure people with disabilities can continue to redefine what it means to live with a disability in contemporary American life and define themselves ... in the most productive and thought-provoking life," said Viscardi Center president and CEO Chris Rosa.

The museum is planned to reopen next fall after a section of the Viscardi Center is renovated as part of the Kornreich Institute for Disability Studies. Officials received permission to move the museum’s state charter in April.

The institute was established by John and Janet Kornreich, donors who helped develop it to preserve a chronicle of what it's like to live with disabilities.

"Our mission is to inform, educate and entertain students," John Kornreich said Friday. "The heart of our kids is integrated into the curriculum every day. They learn the culture and history of disabled life."

Kornreich said the museum will feature famous leaders, performers and athletes with disabilities including the late Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, who was injured in World War II, Paralympian gold medalist Oksana Masters, a double amputee, and former Yankees pitcher Jim Abbott, who was born without a right hand and had a 10-year major league career, including throwing a no-hitter.

 The  museum will include 3,100 artifacts, comprising mostly historical documents, in addition to other digital and interactive displays to portray the history of disabilities and progress toward achievements including the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. The museum is also partnering with the College of Staten Island to archive documents.

A centerpiece of the collection includes a 1948 Invacar, an accessible vehicle similar to a Mini Cooper and distributed by the British government to disabled veterans free of charge through 1977. Only about 30 of the original models still exist, including one that will be at the new museum.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said the funding for the museum was allocated using economic development and tourism marketing dollars to attract visitors to Nassau County.

"History is very important. We need to remember and learn from it," Blakeman said. "History enriches us and helps us not make mistakes in the past. It was part of the fabric of our county. People need to learn about the struggle. The ADA didn’t just happen. It’s something that had to be fought for."

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.