4. activist

6. educator

8. artist

10. legacy

11. Karen Hagrup

13. her gifts to us
are still
being revealed

14. her story
keeps unfolding

15. it is a story of
challenge, support,
and strength

16. she gives
her story to us
freely

18. I: Norway

19. Karen’s story
begins

20. on the
northern tundra,
a land beyond
the tree line

21. dotted with
medieval
stave churches

23. her father
was a minister

24. her parents
had four children

26. all girls

27. Karen was the
oldest

28. and a twin

30. in 1945,
when Karen was
three years old

31. she got polio

32. her back to the
camera, this is the
last photo of her
before polio

34. years of
isolation and
low expectations

35. did not stop her
from exploring the
world around her

37. England…

38. Germany…

39. II: USA

40. life was sometimes
lonely and hard

42. but in her
new country

43. Karen thrived

45. despite what others
thought, including
her own parents

46. Karen knew
that she would
become a mother

49. her marriage lasted
more than 30 years

53. and she raised
two daughters
of her own

56. she got her PhD
and became a
professor of
education

58. when her university
blatantly
discriminated
against her

59. she found a lawyer
who also had polio

61. and sued
the university
under the ADA

63. and won

64. she started
two independent
living centers

66. she gave a paper at
the inaugural
meeting of SDS

67. the Society for
Disability Studies

68. and made people
think about
disability as a
cultural issue

70. her work in
this area was
published in the
Oral History Review

71. in sixty years,
Karen had already
done a lot

73. Karen and her twin,
Haldis, at sixty

75. at the right time,
Karen’s marriage
ended

77. and the
third part of
Karen’s life began

78. III: life
without borders

79. she found new love

81. her family
grew and changed

83. she began writing
down the first two
parts of her story

85. and she found new
ways to fight
against ableism

86. institutional
power
+
individual
prejudice
=
ableism

88. in part,
by choosing to
fight injustice

89. everywhere

90. polio survivor
proud immigrant
gay rights advocate
old and beautiful
career woman
ally of teachers,
polyamorous folks,
civil rights movements

91. Obama supporter

94. what next?

96. activist

98. educator

100. artist

102. legacy

103. Karen Hagrup

110. happy 70 birthday
th
Karen!!!

111. we love you

112. we love you

113. we love you