Ed Roberts, Disability Rights Pioneer

1. Ed Roberts’ Life Story:
Free PowerPoint Slideshow

2. Created by
Buddy Bougere, a disabled writer,
And
Esther Pérez-Zemmels, a veteren teacher.

3. Many of the following images belong to their
respective copyright holders.
All text is:
© Copyright 2015 by Walter “Buddy” Bougere
All rights reserved.
permissions@BuddyBougere.com
June 9, 2015
.

4. Produced and Directed by
Buddy Bougere

5. Photos Found by:
Joan Leon
Esther Pérez-Zemmels
Zoe Zemmels
Buddy Bougere

6. Digital Communications
David Zemmels

7. Concept and Research
Buddy Bougere

8. Graphic Design and Editor
Esther Pérez-Zemmels

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

10. Ed Roberts was born January 23, 1939.

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

12. 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.

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

14. 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.

15. 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.
Text

16. 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.

17. “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.

18. 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.
Text

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. • 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.

22. 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.””””

23. 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.

24. 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.

25. 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.”

26. 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.

27. 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.

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

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

30. 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.

31. 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.

32. 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.

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

34. •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:

35. 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.

36. 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.

37. 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.

38. 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.

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

40. 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.

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

42. 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.

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

44. 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.

45. 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.

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

47. 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 Roberts
3 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 texts
of the 12 lessons, minus activities.
Windows Into Disability Rights
is for adults and children over 12.
Get this book from: octaviabooks.com.

48. 5 books and booklets by Buddy Bougere
are coming out in the next 3 years:
Ed Roberts: Disability Pioneer
Ode To Insomnia
My Mother Dances With Alzheimer sʼ
Alzheimer’s Resource Directory
Practical Ways To Help A Friend With Alzheimer’s

49. To learn more about any
of
the works just named go
to:
BuddyAndEsther.com

50. 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.htm
Ed Roberts the Early Years: http://atotw.org/edrobertsearlyyears.html
Iron Lung: http://www.arthursclipart.org/medical/respiratory/iron%20lung.gif
Miami Herald:http://www.polioplace.org/sites/default/files/person/Ed_Roberts_-_article_75_small.jpg
No Access: http://static.rbi.com.au//Uploads/PressReleases/infotoday/Images-
20111209/111209_access1.jpg
Polio Sign: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/FjIgaswKh60/0.jpg
University of Berkeley California: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/collections/drilm/images/index_r2_c1.jpg
University 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.jpg
World Institute on Disability: https://www.myphilanthropedia.org/top-nonprofits/national/people-with-
disabilities/2011/world-institute-on-disability-wid
Victor Pineda: http://victorpineda.posterous.com/
Zona and Ed Roberts: Twentieth Century
Pioneers.http://www.independentliving.org/docs3/brown00a.html

51. To Learn More Visit:
MyMotherDancesWithAlzheimers.co
m
MiMadreBailaConAlzheimer.com
EdRoberts.net/spanish
EdRoberts.net