[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 81 (Tuesday, May 16, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1046-E1047]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                     IN MEMORY OF EDWARD V. ROBERTS

                                 ______


                         HON. RONALD V. DELLUMS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 16, 1995
  Mr. DELLUMS. Mr. Speaker, it is with profound sadness that I rise to 
remember the late Edward V. Roberts, the father of the independent 
living movement and cofounder of the World Institute on Disability. Mr. 
Roberts passed from this life on March 14, 1995, at his home in 
Berkeley, CA, at the age of 56.
  Mr. Roberts undeniably exemplified the epitome of what people with 
disabilities can accomplish with the right attitude, individual 
empowerment, and mutual support. The undefeatable Mr. Roberts laid the 
groundwork for disabled rights as he pursued his dream of liberation 
and education. His lifelong battle for the rights of the disabled began 
in high school when he vigorously challenged his school principal who 
balked at granting Roberts a diploma because the teenager had not 
completed the required physical education courses. Polio left Roberts a 
quadriplegic at age 14. Roberts, unable to move below the neck and 
dependent on an iron lung to breathe, was deemed ``severely disabled'' 
and ``unemployable,'' according to a counselor at the California State 
Department of Rehabilitation. Convinced that he could defeat the odds, 
Roberts never accepted the idea that disabled people could not when the 
rest of society could. He pursued his educational objectives with this 
idea in mind. After winning the battle to obtain his high school 
diploma, Roberts went on to earn a bachelor's degree and a master's 
degree. He was the first severely disabled student to attend and be 
housed on campus at the University of California, Berkeley. While 
there, Mr. Roberts helped fellow students organize into a self-help 
group whose services included free counseling, off-campus housing 
referrals, and a repair crew whose expertise was wheelchairs. He also 
led the lobbying effort for dorm housing for the disabled and 
eventually secured Federal money to establish the first ever Physically 
Disabled Students Program at the university. This was just the 
beginning of Mr. Robert's legacy to people with disabilities.
  Committed to increasing the freedom of people with disabilities to 
live and work like other people and in response to increased demands 
for the services provided under the auspices of the Disabled Student's 
Program, in 1972, Mr. Roberts helped found the Center for Independent 
Living in Berkeley. The program was the first of its kind to be 
designed, developed, organized and managed by and for the disabled to 
achieve the best quality life possible. It became a national model for 
people with disabilities because it documented and resolved some of the 
basic problems of people with disabilities attempting to live 
independently with such essentials as personal care, modified living 
space, transportation, and wheelchair-accessible ramps and curbs. While 
at the center, Roberts successfully campaigned for the removal of 
Federal laws that were designed to keep the disabled out of school and 
work environments. His ideas were turned into law in the Rehabilitation 
Act of 1973. There are now some 400 independent living centers 
throughout the United States
 based on the Berkeley model demonstrating independent living with 
accommodations. Once again, Mr. Roberts scored a permanent mark for the 
disabled, transforming the way everyone thinks and acts toward the 
disabled and paving the way for the integration of the disabled into 
all forms of society.

  Mr. Robert's longtime efforts and visions received affirmation when 
Governor Jerry Brown appointed Roberts to head the California 
Department of Rehabilitation in 1975. Roberts was the first California 
State director of rehabilitation with a physical disability. His 
presence alone at the agency, the same agency that sided with the 
University of California in denying Roberts admittance to Berkeley 
because the school had never had a whellchair-confined student who 
required a respirator and iron lung, helped many understand the needs 
of the disabled seeking independence. With a staff of more than 2,500 
and budget of $140 million, Roberts implemented the independent living 
programs on the State level and established a national network of 
independent living centers. The independent living movement soon went 
national. Roberts' efforts to change disabled rights dramatically 
influenced policies that are in place today. Mr. Roberts was determined 
to change the whole system and move away from old ideas about the 
capabilities of the disabled.
  In 1984, Mr. Roberts received a $225,000 MacArthur Foundation award. 
Using this grant, he cofounded the Oakland-based World Institute on 
Disability [WID], to carry the philosophy of independent living into 
the national [[Page E1047]] arena. This organization, an influential 
think tank on disabled policy and research issues, is dedicated to 
eliminating handicappism through equity of opportunity, 
institutionalizing the full participation of the disabled within our 
society and ensuring economic parity for the disabled. Under Roberts, 
the organization conducted research and training on major policy 
issues, formulated new approaches to disabilities that are based on 
real-life emergencies and needs, began a disabled youth summer jobs and 
internship project, encouraged small businesses to identify barriers 
faced by the disabled and lobbied for small business loans for the 
disabled. His lobbying efforts gave rise to the Americans with 
Disabilities Act of 1990, section 504, and other important access laws 
for the disabled. Carrying his message of independent living, Mr. 
Roberts traveled worldwide pushing his message for disabled rights in 
Africa, Australia, Russia, El Salvador, and Japan, just to name a few.
  Edward V. Roberts positively changed the perceptions of a whole 
society and revolutionized society's idea of what persons with 
disabilities could be. As a role model and leader with a vision, 
Roberts was committed to building an environment that supports the 
independence of people with disabilities. Roberts plotted his course 
early and never veered from his chartered path. He inaugurated a civil 
rights movement that changed the life of every disabled person and the 
structure of nearly every street and building in this Nation. Though 
there are no monuments to the man who launched the disabilities rights 
movement, we must recognize Mr. Roberts as the man who tried to build a 
dream that we all could share, now and in all generations to come. We 
will all morn this loss.


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