Our History

For over 45 years, Disability Rights Tennessee (DRT) has provided services and support for people living with disabilities and/or mental illness in all 95 state counties.

In 1978, a group of parents and professionals attended an advocacy workshop at the International Association for Citizens of Learning Disabilities Convention. Inspired and motivated to create change, the group established an organization with the primary mission of providing education and resources to parents of children with disabilities.

Education Advocacy for Children with Handicaps (E.A.C.H.) was incorporated soon after. Five years later, in 1983, the organization expanded its mission to include all individuals with disabilities, and the name was changed to Effective Advocacy for Citizens with Handicaps (E.A.C.H.).

In that same year, E.A.C.H. was designated as Tennessee’s Protection & Advocacy (P&A) system by Governor Lamar Alexander.

What is a P&A?

The Protection & Advocacy (P&A) network was a result of an eye-opening exposé on the Willowbrook School in New York, which highlighted the inhuman conditions and treatment of people with disabilities living there.

After the story aired, lawsuits were filed and shortly after, The Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 1975 (DD Act) was passed. Institutions like Willowbrook began to close, and the P&A network was created to ensure that this abuse never happened again.

Today, there is one P&A in every U.S. state and territory. As the P&A agency in Tennessee, Disability Rights Tennessee ensures people living with disabilities and/or mental illness are safe in the places where they live, work, learn, or receive other services.

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