Did you know the founder of Girl Scouts, Juliette Gordon Low, was deaf?

Gordon-Low founded Girl Scouts for the sole purpose of having an all-inclusive program

Juliette Gordon Low was born hearing and became deaf at the age of 17 due to multiple ear injuries. She was a very athletic woman, always active in sports and the outdoors.

It was after she met the founder of the Boy Scouts that she decided to set up the Girls Scouts. The Girl Scouts became one of the first organizations to include girls of all ethnic, cultural, and sociological backgrounds. Gordon-Low’s original intention was to give girls with disabilities a place to grow and learn leadership skills.

Girl Scouts quickly became the most diverse organization and broke many cultural barriers in the United States!

In 2012, a lawsuit was filed against Girl Scouts in Indiana for not providing a deaf girl with an interpreter. The case went to Supreme Court where it was thrown out and then revisited in 2015. The Girl Scouts was found in violation of their own policy and the federal Rehabilitation Act. As of writing this, the lawsuit is still ongoing. This is extremely ironic especially when the founder herself was a deaf woman and she founded the Girl Scouts with the future of deaf youths in mind!

Juliette Gordon Low passed away in 1927 from breast cancer at the age of 67.

More in depth biography about Juliette Gordon Low can be found here:
Girls Scouts of America – Juliette Gordon Low

For more information about the lawsuit, refer to this article:
ABC7 News Girl Scouts Lawsuit