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Sylvia Flexer Bassoff (March 21, 1915 – March 23, 1994), was an activist and advocate for disability justice, most notably serving as the president of the League of the Physically Handicapped in the mid-1930’s, a group which carried out the first organized disability rights protests in U.S. history.

Early Life

Sylvia Flexer was born on March 21, 1915 to Russian Jewish immigrants Benjamin Flexer and Bessie Astrein. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York, living with her parents, maternal grandmother, and her three siblings, Pearl, Abraham, and Moston. Sylvia became disabled when she was 14 months old; contracted polio during the 1916 epidemic (Fleischer & Zames, 2011). As an adult, she used crutches and wore a leg brace (Longmore & Goldberger, 2000). Her mother died when she was 13 years old. Sylvia studied stenography at Drake Business school. Despite excelling at her program, she joined the mass of skilled workers with disabilities (including pharmacists, lawyers, clerks, and stenographers such as herself) who were unable to access Works Progress Admin-istration (WPA) jobs because their applications were stamped “PH” for physically handicapped–effectively categorizing them as “unemployable”. This injustice spurred Sylvia to get involved with a grassroots movement of young, disabled adults – many of whom were Jewish women like herself – who were organizing in protest. This group would later be called The League of the Physically Handicapped, and Sylvia would go on to become their president (Longmore & Goldberger, 2000).

Involvement in the League of the Physically Handicapped

Six disabled activists staged an eight-day sit-in at the office of Oswald Knauth, Director of the Emergency Relief Bureau, protesting disability-based discrimination in the WPA and other work relief agencies (Longmore & Goldberger, 2000). This was the first organized disability protest in US history (Danforth, 2015). Eleven protestors (8 of whom were disabled) were arrested on June 6th, 1935 while protesting outside of the Emergency Relief Bureau (Steinborn, 2017). The ensuing trials, overseen by Judge Harris, were perplexing to both Harris and the public as they challenged notions about what disabled people were capable of doing (Steinborn, 2017). In November 1935, the members of the League of the Physically Handicapped conducted a t hree week-long protest at the WPA headquarters that ultimately resulted in the hiring of 40 league members by the WPA (Longmore & Goldberger, 2000). On May 8th, 1936, thirty five delegates for the League, led by Sylvia Flexer, traveled to Washington D.C. (Longmore & Goldberger, 2000). The following day they visited the WPA headquarters where they were told that the WPA concerned itself only with “employables” and that WPA chief, Harry Hopkins, would not see them (Longmore & Goldberger, 2000). In August 1936, the League sent Hopkins and President Roosevelt a ten-page letter called the Thesis on Condition of Physically Handicapped, which commented on job discrimination for disabled people and their struggle for social and economic security (Longmore & Goldberger, 2000). By 1938 the League dissolved due to several reasons such as internal political differences and red-baiting (Longmore & Goldberger, 2000).

Post-League Life, Advocacy and Activism

In 1937, Sylvia married Isidore Bassoff, and in 1938, she began working at the Dept. of Welfare as a typewriting copyist. She continued to advocate for disability justice throughout the rest of her life, as well as elder advocacy. She advocated for better healthcare, transportation, and opportunities for political involvement for people with disabilities and elders (Schmalz, 1985), fought vehemently against proposed cuts to Medicare (Bertinelli, 1985), and advocated for increased accessibility of public transportation and the expansion of para-transit services (Schwartzman, 1985). Sylvia was outspoken and a “fiery spirit”, as described by one Newspaper (Schwartzman, 1985). At age 70 while testifying at a state hearing before the Governor’s Task Force on Aging, she wore a button that said, “How dare you presume I’d rather be young.” (Schmalz, 1985, p35). Her last appearance in the papers was in 1992, when she was advocating against a new policy that was going to make accessible public transportation significantly more expensive than inaccessible public transit, in which people with disabilities would have to pay twice the amount as those without disabilities in order to access public transit (McKenna, 1992). She warned, “by insisting that the fares be increased, they are making para-transit inaccessible to the disabled poor.” (McKenna, 1992). Sylvia died on March 23, 1994 at age 79, leaving behind her husband of 56 years, two children, and five grandchildren.