October 1981 – Summit is founded through a federal Department of Education "Centers for Independent Living" grant awarded to Community Medical Center. Housed initially in a duplex on Clark Street in Missoula, in February 1982 the center begins offering advocacy, skills training, and attendant management training to residents of Missoula County. From its founding until August 1988, Summit was operated as a department of Community Medical Center, with input from a consumer-controlled advisory council.

October 1983 – Summit receives additional grant monies to begin limited outreach services in Ravalli County.

October 1985 – Summit receives a federal Title VII expansion grant from the Department of Education to extend outreach services to Lake and Flathead counties, and to broaden services to people with hearing and visual impairments, traumatic brain injuries, and other disabling conditions. Prior to this time, the focus for services was primarily on people with mobility impairments. In keeping with independent living philosophy, services were made available to persons with all types of disabilities, a "cross disability" focus.

November 1985 – Summit's peer advocate program is launched with the first peer training workshop held in Missoula. Over the next few months peer advocates are also trained in Ravalli, Lake and Flathead counties and join the ranks at Summit.

August 1988 – Summit splits from Community Medical Center and is incorporated as a freestanding, nonprofit corporation governed by a consumer-controlled board of directors.

July 26, 1990 – Summit celebrates as President George Bush signs the Americans with Disabilities Act into law, the culmination of a long national campaign to extend civil rights protections to persons with disabilities.

November 1990 – Summit receives a planning grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and begins a year-long process of assessing consumer needs and developing plans for the three-year implementation phase of the RWJF "Improving Service Systems for People with Disabilities" program.

September 1991 – As part of the RWJF planning grant Summit hosts "Independent Living in Montana: Coming of Age in the‘90s", a statewide conference on systems advocacy and coalition building. At that conference, the Coalition of Montanans Concerned with Disabilities, a grassroots consumer-driven disability rights organization, is born.

May through August 1992 – Summit establishes satellite offices in Kalispell, Ronan and Hamilton through the RWJF implementation grant to expand and improve independent living services to people with disabilities in rural areas.

August 1997 – Summit initiates self-directed personal assistance services, the first independent living center in Montana to participate as a provider agency in the Medicaid Self-Directed PAS program.

July 2000 – Summit celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act in conjunction with the national Spirit of ADA campaign. Tenth anniversary activities include ADA Torch Walk and "We have stories, too" events in Hamilton, an ADA birthday celebration during the "Out to Lunch" program at Caras Park in Missoula featuring speakers, artists and musicians with disabilities, and extensive coverage of ADA issues in numerous local newspapers. test page.

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