DR WOLF WOLFENSBERGER spearheaded the Normalization reform movement, first in the USA and in Canada where he was a visiting scholar with the National Institute on Mental Retardation, and continued to work closely with parent groups. He holds a philosophy degree, and a Masters and Ph.D. in psychology. Since 1973, he has been a Professor in the School of Education at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York State, and the Director of the Training Institute for Human Service Planning, Leadership and Change Agentry there. Much of Dr. Wolfensberger's work has been concerned with services to people with developmental disabilities and their families. He is author of a large number of works including the service evaluation instruments, PASS and PASSING. He is the originator of the Citizen Advocacy concept, and the author of Social Role Valorization theory.

In recent years, Dr. Wolfensberger has become increasingly concerned with the decline in functionality of service systems, and the need to emphasise personal relationships between valued and devalued people. He also actively advocates against society's growing willingness to abbreviate the lives of unwanted devalued groups, including the unborn, new-borns with disabilities, the chronically ill, homeless and elderly people. He has presented workshops in eleven countries.

Dr Wolfensberger's work was recognised by the magazine 'Exceptional Parent' as one of the great 7 contributions to the lives of people with disabilities, along with Salk and the polio vaccine, braille, Americans with Disabilities Act and the wheelchair. The link is below, but this is what they said:The work of Dr. Wolf Wolfensberger on the Principles of Normalization and
Social Role Valorization

In today's world the concept that ALL people should have the same rights and civil liberties and the same access to everyday living conditions and circumstances as everyone else, regardless of disabilities either physical or cognitive, seems a forgone conclusion. Of course, they should. But when the young Dr. Wolf Wolfensberger, now 74, was first advancing and expanding the principle of Normalization, first devised by Scandinavian Bengt Nirje in
the 1960s, and formulating the concept of Social Role Valorization (SRV) in the 1970s and 80s, it was far from a forgone conclusion. In fact, Dr. Wolfensberger can remember heated debates with his academic colleagues, a few he says, "which almost digressed to physical violence." But what are the principles of Normalization and Social Role Valorization? Quoting directly from the extensive literature done by Nirje and Wolfensberger:

The Normalization Principle and Social Role Valorization: "The normalization
principle means making available to all people with disabilities patterns of life and conditions of everyday living which are as close as possible to the regular circumstances and ways of life or society." (Bengt Nirje, The basis and logic of the normalisation principle, Sixth
International Congress of IASSMD, Toronto, 1982.)"

As Wolfensberger has continued to hone the principle of Social Role
Valorization, he defines it as "the application of what science can tell us
about the enablement, establishment, enhancement, maintenance, and/or
defence of valued social roles for people" (Susan Thomas and Wolf
Wolfensberger in Flynn and Lemay 1999, p. 125). In other words,
Wolfensberger's work recognizes that society often tends to label groups of
people as fundamentally "different." This label often means that society
looks at these as having less value as everyone else. Based on this premise,
a cataloging of the methods of this devaluation and an analysis of its
effects on people, groups, and society ensues. And from this foundation, the
natural next step is that advocates can seek to fight, debunk, and
counteract these societal pigeonholes. EP has chosen Dr. Wolfensberger and his work as one of its 7 Wonders because of the major effects the principle of Normalization and the principle of Social Role Valorization have had on the way human services for people with
disabilities have been structured and are delivered throughout North America, Australia,
Europe, and the United Kingdom. In fact, that these services developed at
all is, in part, a result of Wolfensberger's voice.

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