5/7/2009:
Anne Carlsen always wanted to be a teacher and she refused to let the lack of fully developed arms or legs stand in her way.
Although born a quadruple congenital amputee, Anne Carlsen was little different than the other kids in her Wisconsin neighborhood. She swam, played baseball and attended school with the assistance of an encouraging family. After high school she graduated cum laude from the University of Minnesota in 1936. Unfortunately, the height of the Great Depression was a bad time to join the job market. Discrimination made it worse. One publishing company expressed interest, but rejected her application citing insurance concerns over her ability to escape the building should it catch fire.
Finally, Anne caught a break in 1938 when a former instructor recommended her for a teaching position at the Good Samaritan Society's Crippled Children's School in North Dakota. Earning $25 a month plus room and board, Anne thought she had hit the peak of her career. But it was only the beginning. Over the next 60 years, Anne earned her master's degree in education, completed the doctoral program at the University of Minnesota and advanced from a teacher at the Crippled Children's School to principle and administrator. Her dedication to the education of children with disabilities put her in the national spotlight as a powerful disabilities advocate. She served on state and national committees and received numerous speaking invitations around the nation and globe. She even testified before the US Senate in support of the Physically Handicapped Children's Education Act of 1950.
In recognition of Dr. Anne's work to advance employment opportunities for the physically disabled, she was selected to receive the President's Trophy as the 1958 Handicapped American of the Year. Traveling to Washington DC for the annual meeting of the President's Committee on Employment of the Physically Handicapped, she accepted the award at a presentation ceremony 50 years ago today.
She later described the event in an interview. "I had hoped that President Eisenhower would be there to present it, but he was busy with Churchill." "So," she continued, "Vice President Nixon presented it to me instead. He was very nice. He told me he thought I should go into politics. He said he thought I would do well."
For Dr. Anne, the President's Trophy was only the first of many awards recognizing her work, including the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award and induction into the National Teachers Hall of Fame. Even the Jamestown school was renamed the Anne Carlsen School in honor of their longtime teacher and administrator.
When asked about the awards received over the course of her life, she humbly responded "I haven't done anything too outstanding."
There are certainly countless students and parents who would disagree.
Dakota Datebook written by Christina Sunwall
Sources:
"Anne Carlsen Center ", Anne Carlsen Center http://www.annecenter.org/index.html.
Hanson, Nancy Edmonds, ed. Boyd Christenson Interviews. Bismarck, ND: Prairie House, Inc, 1983.
Swanson, Gloria, and Viriginia Ott. Dr. Anne. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1979.