Ed Roberts’ Life Story:

Free PowerPoint Slideshow

Created by

Buddy Bougere, a disabled writer,

And

Esther Pérez-Zemmels, a veteren teacher.

Many of the following images belong to theirrespective copyright holders.

All text is:

© Copyright 2015 by Walter “Buddy” Bougere

All rights reserved.

permissions@BuddyBougere.com

June 9, 2015

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Produced and Directed by

Buddy Bougere

Photos Found by:

Joan Leon

Esther Pérez-Zemmels

Zoe Zemmels

Buddy Bougere

Digital Communications

David Zemmels

Concept and Research

Buddy Bougere

Graphic Design and Editor

Esther Pérez-Zemmels

“You personally have to believe in yourself to make it happen.” - - Ed Roberts

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Ed Roberts was born January 23, 1939.

 

As a child Ed was good at sports and had dreams of becoming a professional baseball player.

 

Jackie Robinson

In 1953, when Ed Roberts was 14 he became ill with the polio virus. He couldn’t move at all, except his neck, face, two fingers, and one toe.

At that time polio was the most dreaded disease in the United States, killing and disabling thousands.

Almost everyone would refuse to visit a home with polio.  A red sign was put on the outside of Ed’s house with the word “polio” on it. 

 

Ed couldn’t breathe on this own. He was placed in an iron lung to help him breathe. For years, Ed had to stay in his iron lung 18 hours a day.

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The iron lung is an airtight metal tank that covers all of the body except the head and forces the lungs to inhale and exhale through regulated changes in air pressure.

“There is no life without taking risks.”- - Ed Roberts

People told Ed he would never have a life. He became scared and deeply depressed. He wanted to die.

Once Ed came home from the hospital, his iron lung was placed in the living room where he was the center of family activity.  Under no circumstances would Ed’s mother Zona let him give up.  This had a great outcome.

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Ed learned to use a ventilator, a tube like the iron lung, forced air into his lungs.  Using this he could leave the house for up to six hours a day.

Ed took classes using a telephone hookup. He read his books on an elevated tray and learned to turn the pages with a stick in his mouth. In this way, he could read on his own.

• One day his mother told him he had to return to school at least once a week.  Ed was terrified.  He had left eighth grade as a top athlete.  Now he was returning as the kid who couldn’t move and used a wheelchair. 

• He was so afraid of the stares that would come.

The first day sure enough, everyone stared.  But Ed was surprised when it didn‘t hurt him.  His motto became:

“If they’re going to stare at you, you may as well be a star.””””

Ed had the second best grades in his class.  Yet he encountered another obstacle when he was told he couldn’t graduate from high school because he hadn’t taken driver’s education and physical education.

Ed and his mother together fought the school’s rules and won. In 1959, when he was 20-years-old, a fellow student pushed Ed across the stage during the graduation ceremony.

In 1962, he applied to the University of California in Berkeley.  A school official told him: “We’ve tried cripples before and it didn’t work out.”

In 1962 once again, Ed struggled for his basic rights.  He was the first severely disabled student to be admitted into the university and do well.  

Because Ed got good grades, his university finally did what Ed asked them to do which was to admit new students who were also severely disabled. 

Other universities began accepting severely disabled students. As happened so often, Ed was opening the door for everybody.

Ed and the new students with disabilities called themselves the “Rolling Quads.” Quad is short for quadriplegic, which means below the neck is paralyzed.

The Rolling Quads worked on removing barriers to their wheelchairs such as street curbs and stairs. They also worked to get classrooms to be accessible for the quads, which many were not.

The Rolling Quads made a lasting impact in 1970 by starting the independent living movement.

There are people with disabilities in every country today who are devoting their lives to this movement. Their goal is to improve life for people with all types of disabilities.

In 1972, an enthusiastic group of equals, including Ed, cofounded the first independent living center in the world, in the city of Berkeley, California. 

Persons with disabilities ran services helping other people with disabilities.   

Over three years, under Ed’s new leadership as director, the centers budget increased from $40,000 to $3,000,000.

There are now over 961 independent living centers in more than 37 countries. 

•1. Information and referral

•2. Independent living skills training

•3. Peer counseling

•4. Advocacy.

There are four core services offered in all of the independent living centers in the United States: 

In 1975, Ed was selected to be head of the California Department of Rehabilitation. He was a leading advocate of civil rights for disabled people.

 In 1977, Ed and about 150 people, were in a struggle with the federal government to get Section 504 of a civil rights law to come into force.  They succeeded in their protest.  Today there are millions of students and others now protected by this law.

Section 504 created the first enforceable disability civil rights rules in U.S. history.  Discrimination in any program using federal funds became against the law.

In 1983, Ed became the president of the World Institute on Disability, which he co-founded with Joan Leon and Judy Heumann.  He travelled one million miles to tell disabled people that they didn’t have to let the old attitudes defeat them, they should take heart and live freely and independently.

Laws in some countries were unfair to people with disabilities, saying they: Were not allowed to go to school like other kidsCould not inherit moneyCould not marry or own a house.Ed, through the World Institute on Disability, encouraged people to fight these kinds of injustices.

Ed fought all his life for a sweeping disability civil rights bill in the United States.  This was to come in 1990, with the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act, signed by President George H.W. Bush.  It is often called the ADA.

Section 504 only covered programs using federal money. The Americans with Disabilities Act broadened that to cover every part of society.

Before the law, government buildings were often not accessible to wheelchairs and therefore entry was denied. Also, your application to rent an apartment, to go to college, or to get a job could be denied just because you were disabled. The law made these things, and other things like them, illegal.

Today there are 52 countries with laws based on the Americans with Disabilities Act. The law was the first of its kind.

On March 14, 1995, Ed Roberts died at the age of 56. His disability had been a huge obstacle to him at first, but he didn’t let that stop him from going anywhere he wanted to go.

Ed was the first spark of the independent living movement. He served it and led it for the rest of his life. His accomplishment was what made him a key player in taking the old and dreadful view of disability and moving it to the modern viewpoint.

Today Ed Roberts is remembered around the world as the father of the independent living movement.

Other works co-authored by Buddy Bourgere and Esther Pérez-Zemmels

12 People And Disability lesson plans

are for teachers and parents:2 are on disability role models in history

4 are on Ed Roberts3 are on name calling

3 are on U.S. disability civil rights.These lesson plans have 110 activities for kids,

mostly based on web sites and videos from disabled people themselves.

There is a paperback book with main textsof the 12 lessons, minus activities.

Windows Into Disability Rightsis for adults and children over 12.

Get this book from: octaviabooks.com.

5 books and booklets by Buddy Bougereare coming out in the next 3 years:

Ed Roberts: Disability Pioneer

Ode To Insomnia

My Mother Dances With Alzheimerʼs

Alzheimer’s Resource Directory

Practical Ways To Help A Friend With Alzheimer’s

To learn more about any of

the works just named go

to:

BuddyAndEsther.com

Credits:Americans With Disability Act: http://landrumhrblog.com/2010/07/26/looking-back-20-years-changes-brought-by-the-ada/Federal Accessibility Law: http://www.finaid.csuci.edu/it/web/workshops/web-accessibility-1/web_data/file6.htmEd Roberts the Early Years: http://atotw.org/edrobertsearlyyears.htmlIron Lung: http://www.arthursclipart.org/medical/respiratory/iron%20lung.gifMiami Herald:http://www.polioplace.org/sites/default/files/person/Ed_Roberts_-_article_75_small.jpgNo Access: http://static.rbi.com.au//Uploads/PressReleases/infotoday/Images-20111209/111209_access1.jpgPolio Sign: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/FjIgaswKh60/0.jpgUniversity of Berkeley California: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/collections/drilm/images/index_r2_c1.jpgUniversity of Berkeley California Ed Roberts Campus:http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2010/07/27/roberts/University of Berkeley Center for Independent Living: http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~ys2k-sik/01overse/us/roberts/ed-kaz60.jpgWorld Institute on Disability: https://www.myphilanthropedia.org/top-nonprofits/national/people-with-disabilities/2011/world-institute-on-disability-widVictor Pineda: http://victorpineda.posterous.com/Zona and Ed Roberts: Twentieth Century Pioneers.http://www.independentliving.org/docs3/brown00a.html

To Learn More Visit:

MyMotherDancesWithAlzheimers.com

MiMadreBailaConAlzheimer.com

EdRoberts.net/spanish

EdRoberts.net