Special Collections and Archives Public Health Subject Guide: Disabilities

Lee Miller Papers
Attorney and political consultant Lee Miller (1930- ) was born in New York City, graduated from Brooklyn College, with a degree in Elementary education, and earned a law degree from the University of Wisconsin. She worked for the Federal Trade Commission and Civil Aeronautics board during the Eisenhower administration before moving to Smyrna, Georgia. Once in Georgia, Miller became a major player in the emerging Republican politics of the formally one party state. She founded the Cobb County Federation of Republican Women before becoming the President of the Georgia Federation in 1965. She also served on the National Federation of Republican Women Board of Directors and as the head of the Educational Advisory Committee. Under her leadership, she spearheaded Operation Lend-An-Ear, which polled women on education and political topics throughout the nation. In state politics, Miller served as Republican State Canvas Chairwoman for Barry Goldwater in 1964, Director of Women’s Activities (which included leading a massive group of women volunteers who handled detailed polling) for the Callaway campaign), and was on the State Executive Committee for years. She played crucial behind the scenes rolls for both the Nixon and Reagan campaigns in Georgia. After moving to Columbus, Georgia, Miller and her husband dove hard into the politics of forced school busing and desegregation. She challenged the Muscogee County (GA) school board in court and the press in an attempt to mitigate the effects of federal courts on local control of schools. In 1997, after her daughter recovered from a traumatic brain injury, Miller established the Georgia Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. She continues to serve as CEO of the organization.

Nancy Duncan, June 28, 2013
Originally from Groveland, Fla., Nancy Duncan became blind early in life and has been an advocate for people with disabilities for over thirty years. She is the former director and chief executive of the Disability Resource Group in Atlanta, Ga.

Eleanor Smith, May 13, 2016
Eleanor Smith was born in central Illinois, the fourth child in a Mennonite family with five children. Smith contracted polio at the age of three and spent a year in the hospital, initially completely paralyzed. She eventually regained the use of her arms but continues to use a wheelchair. Smith later became involved in disability-rights activism. During a long-term stay on Koinonia Farm, a Christian, social-justice oriented intentional community in Americus, Ga., Smith began reading about radical psychiatry and developed an interest in the practice of psychotherapy. She moved to Atlanta, then briefly left Atlanta for San Francisco, where she trained in radical psychiatry before returning to Atlanta and becoming involved with Karuna Counseling, first as a client and later as a therapist, a position she held for four years. After leaving Karuna, Smith taught English as a Second Language at a community college before retiring.

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