Written by Joan Leon
Encyclopedia Britannica
Ed Roberts (born January 23, 1939, San Mateo, California, U.S.,died March 14, 1995, Berkeley) was an American disability rights activist who is considered the founder of the independent-living movement.
Roberts contracted polio at age 14 and was paralyzed from the neck down. Requiring an iron lung or a respirator to breathe, he attended high school in California by telephone before attending in person in his senior year. Early on, Roberts encountered obstacles as a result of his disability. Because he had not completed physical education and driver education courses, his high school refused to let him graduate, but the decision was reversed after his mother petitioned the school board for his diploma. In 1962, after two years of attending a local college, he was accepted to the University of California, Berkeley, but the university, which had been unaware of his disability when he applied, refused to admit him on the grounds that his iron lung would not fit in a dormitory room. Roberts challenged the administration and ultimately was admitted. While at Berkeley, he worked with the university to develop the Physically Disabled Students Program, a program run by and for disabled students to provide wheelchair repair, attendant referral, peer counseling, and other services that would enable them to live in the community. Roberts earned a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1964 and a master’s degree in political science two years later.
In 1972 Roberts and other members of the Physically Disabled Students Program came together in Berkeley to found the Center for Independent Living, an advocacy group that fought for changes that would give people with disabilities access to community life. The group’s first success was its campaign to persuade the city of Berkeley to install curb cuts, permitting wheelchair access.
In 1976 Roberts was appointed director of the California Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, an agency that in 1962 had deemed Roberts too disabled to hold a job. As director, he facilitated the establishment of independent living centres throughout the state. He also traveled to lobby for disability rights in the United States and around the world. After his death, a centre for people with disabilities was created in Berkeley and named for him.
Edward d) Verne Roberts is considered the father of the independent living movement. As a hero in the United States’ disability rights movement, Roberts paved the way for people with physical disabilities to access higher education.
Roberts was born in San Mateo in 1939. When he was fourteen, he contracted polio and had to pause his high school studies. After surviving polio, Roberts was left paralyzed in most of his lower body except for several of his fingers. As he recovered, Roberts needed an iron lung or respirator. Because of this medical equipment, Roberts attended his classes by listening in on the telephone. He spent eighteen months receiving treatment until he returned home.
After returning to his school in person, Roberts realized that many students with disabilities (like himself) faced discrimination. His school refused to allow him to graduate because he was unable to complete the driver’s education and physical education credits. Nonetheless, Roberts successfully petitioned his school to grant him his diploma. His uncertain graduation was only the first of such challenges that Roberts would encounter in school.
Upon graduating from high school, Roberts was accepted to the University of California, Berkeley.[1] Unfortunately, administrators tried to reverse Roberts’ acceptance when they realized that he was quadriplegic. Representatives of the school claimed that the dorms on campus did not have the appropriate equipment or space to accommodate Roberts’ 800-pound iron lung and his wheelchair. Roberts insisted on enrolling in classes, though, and he became the first student at his university to use a wheelchair.
As an undergraduate student, Roberts created a group called the Rolling Quads. This group of students with disabilities moved into a dorm together. As a club, they pressured UC Berkeley to design more accessible classroom and dorm buildings for students with disabilities. This group grew into the Physically Disabled Students Program, which was the country’s first college organization for students with disabilities.
The Physically Disabled Students Program would inspire Roberts to create a community in Berkeley where people with physical disabilities could live as independently as possible. Founded in 1972, this community was the first Center for Independent Living. It served as a model encouraging the movement toward independent living and accessibility in the disabled community.
In 1964, Roberts earned his BA, and he received his MA two years later. While he was accepted as a Ph.D. student, he never completed his degree; however, he taught political science courses at UC Berkeley for six years. Roberts later directed California’s Department of Rehabilitation. In 1980 Roberts, alongside fellow activist Judy Heumann, co-founded the World Institute on Disability, a program that continues to educate students about disability. Since his death, the state of California has memorialized Ed Roberts with a holiday in his honor. Every January 23rd is Ed Roberts Day.
Notes:
[1] Sather Tower, also known as The Campanile, is a clock and bell tower on the campus of UC Berkeley. It can be heard across the campus and. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 25, 1982.
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