Rosa Parks. Harvey Milk. Cesar Chavez. These are names that stand out in the struggle to realize the promise of America, full equality for all its citizens. I would venture to say that there are few in this country unfamiliar with the impact these individuals had on our society. Most of us who hang out on these orange and white web pages would agree that their work is far from done, and are committed to carrying the baton they passed to us. Many of us were involved in "the movement" when these trailblazers were still among us. Others know their names only from legend or from history lessons. But what of Ed Roberts, Fred Fay, or others whose work served as a catalyst for what was to become a real and formidable disability rights and independent living movement. Neither should their names and work be forgotten, nor their goals left unachieved.
KosAbility is a community diary series posted at 5 PM ET every Sunday and Wednesday by volunteer diarists. This is a gathering place for people who are living with disabilities, who love someone with a disability, or who want to know more about the issues surrounding this topic. There are two parts to each diary. First, a volunteer diarist will offer their specific knowledge and insight about a topic they know intimately. Then, readers are invited to comment on what they've read and/or ask general questions about disabilities, share something they've learned, tell bad jokes, post photos, or rage about the unfairness of their situation. Our only rule is to be kind; trolls will be spayed or neutered.
In 1962, I was entering Middle School, and as one might expect, my political awareness was at a very juvenile stage. I rooted for the GOP, the political party of both sides of my family for generations, much like cheering for the home team in sports. But I was moved by images to which I was beginning to be exposed. A photograph of a group of burly men dressed in their Sunday best, standing in front of a southern church door with arms locked, preventing the entry of a "colored" family, who was just as smartly dressed. The faces of the men were full of hate. The faces of the family mixtures of shame, disappointment, rejection. I didn't know it, but it was the beginning of a personal evolution for me, which would take me through that turbulent decade and into a life's work at the margins of our "Great Society." Civil Rights. Farmworkers. GLBT equality. Anti-war. They would each become for me a part of what I saw as a single struggle for Peace and Justice, although it would take many years before I would recognize that it was incomplete without the voice of people with disabilities.
But that same year, 1962, Ed Roberts sued and won the right to enter the University of California at Berkeley, having been denied admission in a flagrant act of discrimination, not for reasons of race or religion, or other criteria which were beginning to be recognized as unconstitutional in that era (think James Meredith & Ol' Miss just one year prior). No, the University refused to accept him as a student because of his disability which was so severe that the California Department of Vocational Rehabilitation had "determined" providing him educational benefits would be futile.
Even today, I would imagine that many social service and medical professionals would agree with that vocational assessment. Childhood polio had left Roberts quadriplegic, without the use of any of his extremities except two fingers, a condition which required him to remain in a prone position around the clock, breathe by gasping for air and swallowing it, and sleep in an 800-pound "iron lung" at night. He used a shaving mirror to see anyone or anything other than the ceiling. How could he possibly complete an education.
But he did. After fighting for and winning the right to try. He not only graduated, but went on to attain an advanced degree, while at the same time founding a local disability rights organization, and then the first Center for Independent Living, which would soon be replicated and built upon by Fred Fay in Boston, and ultimately spawn such centers for support, advocacy and activism for persons with disabilities throughout the country.
Roberts and Fay were to become deeply involved in landmark legislation and other public policies which are too easily taken for granted today, including the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, but were hard fought. Their work provided the foundation for later fights like the 1978 Denver bus protests, without which equal access to public transportation would still be almost nonexistent.
On a site whose expressed goal is electing "more and better Democrats," I would be remiss if I didn't mention the pride I take in the fact that it is our party which has been most responsive to the calls from the Disability Rights and Independent Living movement. But our record is far from perfect. We had to force the Carter Administration into abandoning its attempts at watering down crucial policies and programs, and to finally implement key portions of disability and rehabilitation legislation already passed by Congress. And there are too many Democrats today who seem willing to achieve "fiscal responsibility" by taking steps backward in our struggle for accessibility and equality.
I'm not qualified as a historian, so I don't invoke these names from our past to present any kind of academic overview. I bring them up mostly to remind myself of what I have seen, how we have gotten here, and to refocus on the goal and how far we have left to reach it. I hope that by sharing my recollections and perspective, and hearing what others have to say on these topics, we may together continue propelling this movement forward. It is a movement which is profoundly personal, yet just as profoundly political. May we never lose sight of either, and may we remember the work which has been done by those who came before us.
Their work isn't done. Our work isn't done. What can and should we do about that?
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Some Disability Rights & Independent Living Movement Links which may be of interest for further reading:
- UC Berkeley's "The Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement" website - Historical introduction, oral histories archive, timeline, and bibliography (including links to other resources).
- "Disability Social History Project" by Stephen Dias, longtime disability rights activist (instrumental in the resolution of the fight for Section 504 Implementation in the late 70's) - comprehensive collection of articles, information, exhibits and links from the perspective of someone who was (and is) there.
- PBS's "Interactive Timeline: The Disability Rights Movement" on their site for the documentary "Lives Worth Living," which aired last year as a part of their Independent Lens series -- a pictorial review of major events in the struggle for access and equality. The entire site is worth checking out, IMO.