[4] His career as an advocate began when a high school administrator threatened to deny him his diploma because he had not completed driver's education and physical education. The next year a John Hessler, a second student with disabilities, moved in next door to Ed in Cowell. The illness seriously disturbed Ed, who was too afraid that he was going to die to be able to go to sleep. However, the community supported the occupation: food donated by unions and civil rights groups prepared and brought in by Black Panthers, the Butterfly Brigade, an anti-gay violence street patrol, smuggled in walkie-talkies, and even some of the staff smuggled in food and warned the protesters of potential police raids. Ed got an associate’s degree from the College of San Mateo, where his focus shifted from sports writing to political science and public policy. The fight for the diploma was Ed’s first of many, but it taught him that pursuing what he wanted and deserved would always be a fight (O’Hara). However, several students were rejected, including a man with communication difficulties from cerebral palsy. Stevens, M. (2012). In 1972, these students and community members joined together to form The Center for Independent Living, Inc. Ed had his own attendants from when he returned home from the polio center, who would drive him and push his wheelchair. After attending the College of San Mateo, he was admitted to the University of California, Berkeley. Zona would take him to classes and write the papers he dictated. The Ed Roberts Campus in Berkeley, California, named for the leader of the independent living movement, showcases design accessible to all. Roberts is highlighted in Joseph Shapiro's 1993 book, No Pity: People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement. He gave up thinking of himself as a "helpless cripple," and decided to think of himself as a "star." He is known as The Father of the Independent Living Movement. At the age of fourteen he … She would later joke that Ed graduated from Burlingame High School twice. Roberts contracted polio at the age of fourteen in 1953, two years before the Salk vaccine ended the epidemic. Once demonstrators left the HEW offices, they were not allowed back in. Independent living, as seen by its advocates, is a philosophy, a way of looking at society and disability, and a worldwide movement of disabled people working for equal opportunities, self-determination, and self-respect. She would later joke that Ed graduated from Burlingame High School twice. Zona sent the nurses away; with his decision-making returned to him, Ed’s depression eased. Cowell students drank, smoked pot and had intimate encounters in their hospital-dorm. Under Ed’s leadership, the CIL provided attendant and interpreter referral, accessible housing options, mobility training, help getting and keeping disability benefits, peer counseling, public education and advocacy, and the highly visible organization soon made Berkeley the most accessible city in the country (Leon). The Marin Center for Independent Living (Marin CIL) was organized by a group of dedicated volunteers in 1979, following the world changing movement for disability rights begun next door in Berkeley in the 1960s. The first social movement was deinstitutionalization, an attempt to move people, primarily those with developmental disabilities, out of institutions and back into their home communities. When out of the lung he survived by "frog breathing," a technique for forcing air into the lungs using facial and neck muscles. They began calling themselves the "Rolling Quads" to the surprise of some non-disabled observers who had never before heard a positive expression of disability identity. After she wrongly ejected two students from the program, the Cowell students banded together, again approaching the media. The independent living philosophy and movement emphasizes consumer control. Zona, Ed, Jean and San Mateo Dean of Students Philip Morse made a trip to meet Berkeley’s Dean of Students, Arleigh Williams, who encouraged Ed to attend and gave them a list of housing options. He had to fight for the support he needed to attend college from the California Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, because his rehabilitation counselor thought he was too severely disabled to ever get a job. There, Ed Roberts, Hale Zukas, and Jan McEwan Brown joined forces to lead a movement that made the full academic and social life of the university accessible to all. Shortly thereafter the community established the Ed Roberts Campus, a universally designed, transit-oriented space at Ashby BART Station in Berkeley (Leon). Ed Roberts married Catherine Dugan in 1976, but the couple divorced in 1982. Retrieved November 16, 2013. Jerry Brown named Roberts director of the Department of Rehabilitation and Hessler as the top deputy. Businesses donated supplies, members of the Black Panther Party cooked food, and the mayor sent in portable showers and mattresses. Over the next few years, several more students with disabilities moved into Cowell, and they all received the maximum support from Rehab. [10] The government staff refused to assist the protesters in any way. This movement was led by providers and parents of people with developmental disabilities and was based on the principle of “normalization” developed by Wolf Wolfensberger, a sociologist from Canada. Ed responded, “You get me, I’ve got to have an iron lung. However, after Rehab rejected Ed, Jean and Philip from the College of San Mateo went to the media, which pressured Rehab into providing Ed the maximum amount of aid at Berkeley. Though his relationship didn’t work out, Ed enjoyed the freedom of a power chair for the rest of his life. They wholly rejected the initially proposed “separate but equal” regulation, which would have established segregated schools for children with disabilities. Despite Ed’s fear of people staring at him, Zona would not be swayed. The officers merely informed the university, and told Ed not to do it again. The Ed Roberts Campus is a nonprofit (501c3) corporation that has been formed by disability organizations that share a common history in the Independent Living Movement of People with Disabilities. When Ed was 14, Zona’s four boys fell ill, Ed most severely. Surrounded by nurses, Ed became depressed, at one point trying to refuse to eat. The institute served as a research and policy center focusing on the perspectives of individuals with disabilities. For reasons that will soon become obvious, Roberts is universally acknowledged as the father of the IL movement. While 90% of people affected by the poliomyelitis virus show no symptoms and act as carriers, about 5% will get mild flu symptoms. Mario Savio and the 1964 free speech movement set the He guided the CIL's rapid growth during a decisive time for the emerging disability rights movement. Roberts contracted polio at the age of fourteen in 1953, two years before the Salk vaccine ended the epidemic. As the bar restroom wasn’t accessible, Ed went outside to relieve himself and a cop nearby told him he was under arrest. This taught disability activists that they could shape the federal rulings in their favor. Edward Verne Roberts (January 23, 1939 – March 14, 1995) was an American activist. His ad hoc solutions soon made it possible for other disabled students to attend, paving the way for the creation of the Physically Disabled Student's Program and then the Center for Independent Living. These actions paved the way for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 (Stevens). Palames, C. (2011). Federal officials tried to push out demonstrators who, on April 5, 1977, hunkered down at the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare office in San Francisco. Exams were administered however was settled with the professors. The Independent Living Movement began during the 1960s, ... Ed Roberts, Father of the Independent Living Movement For the ERDG 610 video project, Spring 2014. You’ve arrested me; now what are you going to do with me?” (O’Hara). The Ed Roberts Campus commemorates the life and work of Edward V. Roberts, an early leader in the independent living movement of persons with disabilities. Ed Roberts, described as the “father of independent living,” was the disability rights movement’s first major spokesperson. I’ll die in jail. Nobody knows more” (O’Hara 27). Ed Roberts is considered the founder of independent living. Ed tells a story of a night drinking at a bar past Ashby. Eventually, government officials agreed to a congressional hearing which was held in the building. While he described himself professionally as a diplomat, who understands politics but practices them as he gets older (O’Hara), in keeping with his character, Ed’s best description of himself remains, “The vegetables of the world are uniting and we’re not going away!...I decided to be an artichoke, prickly on the outside but with a big heart!” (Palames). Ed developed his gift for academics, and by the age of 20 he had completed all his academic high school credits. Their success on campus inspired the group to begin advocating for curb cuts, opening access to the wider community, and to create the Physically Disabled Student's Program (PDSP)—the first student-led disability services program in the country. V. Roberts. Ed also started independent living centers all over California, and influenced 1978 amendments to the federal Rehabilitation Act that provided funding to independent living centers nationwide (Leon). Later in his academic career, Ed’s stories display greater freedom in Berkeley of the sixties. Roberts contracted … He had tried a power chair years before, using the two fingers that recovered from the initial paralysis, but the technology had not developed to an extent where Ed could pilot them effectively. [8] Disability rights activists wanted to end discrimination and have rights for people with disabilities that were mandated and protected by the law. Each year on his birthday, January 23rd, he is celebrated for his great impact on the independent living movement. You’ve got to have an iron lung. A local women’s club, the Soroptomists (O’Hara), provided a telephone with a microphone and speakers for Ed to continue his schooling. Roberts’ life and experiences are the definition and model of self-advocacy. Speakers at this vigil included Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, Representative Steny Hoyer of Maryland, Judith Heumann, and Paul Hearne. At the time, he taught political science at Nairobi College,[5] an "alternative college," but returned to Berkeley to assume leadership of the fledgling organization. Upon recovering, Ed was active in campus life. When California politics again shifted to the right, he returned again to Berkeley, where he co-founded the World Institute on Disability with Judith E. Heumann and Joan Leon. The independence of the power chair increased the assertiveness of Ed and his fellow Cowell students, who had begun moving into apartments. She then went to a friend on the school board, which exempted him from the credits and arranged for Ed to graduate in 1959. Initially the California Department of Rehabilitation refused to provide funding to Ed at Berkeley, declaring him “infeasible” for employment. In the time before ventilators, whenever Ed was out of the iron lung, including in class, he practiced “frog breathing,” or swallowing air. In 1972, the first Center for Independent Living was founded by disability activists, led by Ed Roberts, in Berkeley, California. At 16, Ed returned home with an iron lung, which he referred to as his “tank.” The Easter Seals funded his home care (Palames). These Centers were created to offer peer support and role modeling, and are run and controlled by persons with disabilities. Ed Roberts: A Founding Leader of the Independent Living Movement Thanks to legislation passed in California mandating that students learn about disability history in school, future generations will know who Ed Roberts is, and what a significant contribution he made to the disability rights movement. They demanded Rehab fire the counselor, who instead was transferred and shortly retired. Ed Roberts "The Father of Independent Living" Born Jan. 23, 1939, in California and died on March 14, 1995. Roberts, who was the first Berkeley student to rely on a wheelchair when he arrived in 1962, is recognized as the father of the independent living movement for people with disabilities and special needs. After relentlessly fighting for their rights, section 504 was signed into law and became fully implemented under President Nixon. He also engaged in the battle for the enforcement of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 - described as the Civil Rights Act for people with disabilities, Section 504. Independence and rehabilitation have not been the same since, and will never return to the archaic notions which perceived people with disabilities as passive recipients of charity, unable to self direct … Share. He spent eighteen months in hospitals and returned home paralyzed from the neck down except for two fingers on one hand and several toes. Early in his schooling, Ed contracted severe pneumonia. Even after Zona’s suggestion that Ed’s physical therapy go towards his physical education requirements, one administrator was so bold as to visit Ed’s home and tell him to stay another year in high school so he didn’t get a “cheap” diploma; immediately, Zona escorted the administrator out of the house. When out of the lung he survived by "frog breathing," a technique for forcing air into the lungs using facial and neck muscles. Ed, after being laid up with a headache, sat up in the car on the way to the hospital and walked in. Ed Roberts (January 23, 1939-March 14, 1995) was the first student with severe disabilities to attend the University of California, Berkeley. The Independent Living Movement grew out of the Disability Rights movement which began in the United States in the 1960’s. The CIL provided a model for a new kind of community organization designed to address the needs and concerns of people with a wide range of disabilities. [13][14], Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Ed Roberts, disability-rights leader and Cal alum, gets his own state day", "Edward V. Roberts, 56, Champion of the Disabled", "Ed Roberts: Google Doodle Honors Disability Activist", "Ed Roberts' Wheelchair Records a Story of Obstacles Overcome", "Ed Roberts: The Father of Independent Living - FoundSF", "Jeff Moyer Remembers Ed Roberts and the 504 Demonstration", "Ed Roberts, the Disability Rights Movement and the ADA - Google Arts & Culture", "Guide to the Edward V. Roberts Papers, 1975-1998", "Edward Verne Roberts | Post Polio: Polio Place", "Long-awaited Ed Roberts Campus opens in Berkeley", "Berkeley disability activists receive peace award in emotional ceremony", "Zona and Ed Roberts: Twentieth Century Pioneers", Ed Roberts tribute from the Center for Independent Living, The story about Ed's wheelchair being donated to the Smithsonian, Ed Roberts: The Godfather of Independent Living, "Audio transcript: On Don Lorence and his power wheelchair", Oral History Interview with EDWARD V. ROBERTS, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ed_Roberts_(activist)&oldid=1011499897, Disability rights activists from the United States, University of California, Berkeley alumni, Articles needing additional references from January 2017, All articles needing additional references, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, In 2011 a multi-agency independent living center in Berkeley, California, known as the, Also in 2011 Roberts was inducted into the, In 2017, on what would have been his 78th birthday, Roberts was honored with a, This page was last edited on 11 March 2021, at 06:06. The year was 1953 — two years before Salk invented the polio vaccine. At school, he faced his deep fear of being stared at and transformed his sense of personal identity. The Independent Living (IL) movement started in the early 70s when the Berkeley Center for Independent Living in California was founded by Ed Roberts and others with disabilities who were attending the University of California at Berkeley. But local support was widespread. Ed left us with the “Declaration of Interdependence,” observing that reciprocity, responsibility, and relationships create and sustain community (Palames). Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0. The testimonies of Ed Roberts along with other activists were so compelling that the representative from the Department of Health Education Welfare joined the sit-in. Born in 1939, Ed grew into a tall young man and passionate athlete. Ed Roberts is often called the father of the Independent Living movement. Ed and friend at UC Berkeley football game. Roberts accepted on the condition that the area where he lived be treated as dormitory space, not a medical facility. (1966) degrees from UC Berkeley in Political Science. It wasn’t until many years into my career within the disability community that I began to understand the profound impact his life has had, not only on …