70 Years Later, a Classified Ad Still Changing Lives

Ann Greenberg could never have imagined the impact of the six-line classified ad she placed on July 9, 1948, in the New York Post. It literally changed lives. Greenberg, whose son Jerry had developmental delays, placed the ad which read: "To mothers of retarded children, ages, 4-8: Are you interested in helping to start a day nursery for your children?” She received 10 responses. But within a year, through word of mouth and a few brief newspaper articles, hundreds of families joined together.

Start of Parents’ Movement
The New York Post ad was just a beginning for Greenberg, who was determined to help children with disabilities and their families. It was the foundation for one of New York City’s largest organizations supporting children and adults with disabilities -- AHRC New York City (AHRC NYC). The agency was founded in 1949 as the Association for the Help of Retarded Children.

Seventy years after placing the ad, Greenberg’s legacy continues. AHRC NYC empowers the people it supports and their family members. Today the agency offers preschools for children with delays, school age and high school programs, and even college programs for young adults with intellectual and other developmental disabilities.

In 1970, the agency opened the first group residence in New York State on East 16th Street in Manhattan. It started the first sibling network in 1985 to support brothers and sisters of people with developmental disabilities.

‘Go Home and Have Another Baby’
Greenberg, who died in 2006, recalled in a 1998 interview, when she took her son to the doctor who had delivered him. “'His brain has been injured. He's retarded,’” the doctor said. ‘“Go home and have another baby.'” She told the doctor that was impossible, as her husband was serving in the military. She added, “I am not interested in having another baby, only the baby on this table. So he says, 'Well, that's all I can tell you. We can't help him.' And he walked out.” Greenberg tried other doctors, private doctors, but there was no medical practice for children with disabilities.

With no services available for her son, she launched a personal letter writing campaign that blossomed into the parents movement in New York City -- and eventually took the form of AHRC in 1949. Their children were considered ineducable and were treated as outcasts. The parents supported one another, and worked to provide their children with every opportunity to grow.

80-Year-Old Thrives
Gilda Lindenblatt, 80, recalls being the only woman to live in AHRC NYC’s Fineson Residence in Manhattan. She became a staunch self-advocate, making trips to Albany to speak about key issues in the field with legislators. Today she enjoys discussing current events at her day program

Recalling Ann Greenberg
She remembers Greenberg coming to the Fineson residence on its one-year-anniversary. “She was very nice,” Lindenblatt said, adding that Greenberg asked her to help her in the mailroom at the agency’s central office.

Lindenblatt speaks with confidence, though she says she wasn’t always that way. “If anything comes to me now, I’ll speak up and say what I have to say,” she said. “When you get a little older, you start to speak up about the things you want to say.” She admits that she has grown wiser with age.

Greenberg would be proud.

About AHRC New York City: AHRC New York City is a family governed organization committed to finding ways for people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities to build full lives as defined by each person and supported by dedicated families, staff and community partners.