Wolf Wolfensberger
| Wolf Wolfensberger | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1934 Mannheim, Germany |
| Died | 27 February 2011 (aged 76–77) Syracuse, New York |
| Education | B.A., philosophy, Siena College, 1955 M.A., psychology and education, Saint Louis University, 1957 Ph.D., psychology, George Peabody College for Teachers, 1962 |
| Occupation | Professor of Special Education and Director of the Training Institute for Human Service Planning, Leadership and Change Agentry at Syracuse University |
| Years active | 1957–2011 |
| Known for | disability rights advocacy, normalization principle, social role valorization |
| Notable work | The Principle of Normalization in Human Services (1972) |
| Spouse(s) | Nancy Artz Wolfensberger |
| Children | Margaret Sager, Joan Lloyd, Paul Wolfensberger |
| Parent(s) | Friedrich and Helene Wolfensberger |
Wolf Wolfensberger Ph.D. (1934–2011) was a German-American academic who influenced disability policy and practice through his development of North American Normalization and social role valorization (SRV). SRV extended the work of his colleague Bengt Nirje in Europe on the normalization of people with disabilities. He later extended his approach in a radical anti-deathmaking direction: he exposed the Nazi death camps and their targeting of the disabled, and contemporary practices which contribute to geographic differences in longevity.
Born in Mannheim, Germany in 1934, Wolfensberger was sent to the countryside for two years during World War II, in order to escape the bombing. He emigrated to the USA in 1950 at 16 years of age.
He studied philosophy at Siena College in Memphis, Tennessee, received a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology at St. Louis University, and a PhD in Psychology from Peabody College for Teachers (now part of Vanderbilt University), where he specialized in mental retardation and special education.
Wolfensberger worked at Muscatatuck State School, Indiana ("state school" was a term for US intellectual disability total institutions) and interned at the E.R. Johnstone Training Center, New Jersey. He did a one-year National Institute of Health research fellowship (1962–1963) at Maudsley Hospital, (London, England) studying with Jack Tizard and Neil O'Connor. Wolfensberger was the Director of Research (1963–1964) at Plymouth State Home and Training School (Michigan). He was a mental retardation research scientist at the Nebraska Psychiatric Institute of the University of Nebraska Medical School in Omaha from 1964 to 1971.
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