[nabs-l] Lives Worth Living disability documentary to air on PBS

Mon Oct 24 22:53:58 UTC 2011

I highly recommend the book No Pity: People with Disabilities Forging
a New Civil Rights Movement by Joseph Shapiro.  This book is a
comprehensive history of various events in the disability rights
movement including the contributions of the Federation.  It indeed
contains a detailed section on the life and work of Ed roberts.

Dezman

On 10/24/11, Beth <thebluesisloose at gmail.com> wrote:
> HEre in Denver, we have a big independent living center that is
> the second oldest only to Ed Roberts' California one.  Atlantis
> Commuunity Center hosts a woman who got over 30 arrests for civil
> disobedience in the Disability Movement.  She is one of the focal
> points when I think of the larger and broader disability groups.
> She's part of Adapt, which is really important in terms of
> disability groups here in Denver.  They fought to get lifts on
> buses, which is important.  Now, as blind people in CO, we're
> faced with losing a bunch of service in our transit system, which
> could affect the students at the Center in Littleton.  I"m
> talking about the CCB.  I so hope we don't lose the services.
> Beth
>
>  ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com
> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Date sent: Mon, 24 Oct 2011 16:31:28 -0500
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Lives Worth Living disability documentary
> to air on PBS
>
> Bridget,
>
> While I agree with the sentiment you express that we need to be
> aware of the fact that we're not the
> only group involved with the rights of all disabilities, I also
> think that it needs to be recognized
> that there have been some good reasons why we sometimes chart our
> own course.  I do not know if it was
> the same Ed Roberts, but we had some differences with an Ed
> Roberts in the mid-1970's when he was
> director of the California Division of Rehabilitation over some
> big problems in the Business Enterprise
> Program there.  If it was the same guy, that doesn't detract from
> what he has accomplished, but as I
> recall, there was an effort on his part to minimize our role as
> blind consumers, and it was felt that
> was in part because he saw uniqueness as not being something that
> was consistent with a strong
> disability movement.
>
> One of the problems we had in the 1970's and still have today is
> that we are still a fairly low-
> incidence group.  There was a strong disability rights movement
> then and there was serious organizing
> efforts.  The push was very, very strong to promote the view of
> "Disabled" with no emphasis on specific
> disabilities.  Issues we tried to raise that were important to us
> often could gain no traction in the
> larger groups which were often referred to as cohalitions, but
> such groups did expect all member groups
> to carry out their priorities.  Let me explain how one process
> worked here in Minnesota in which I
> participated with other members of the NFB of Minnesota and other
> organizations of the blind.  The forum
> was a governors commission on the handicapped or something
> similar.  The goal was to work out in a one-
> day meeting what the priorities of the governor should be.  What
> was done was to first work together as
> a common group to establish the broad priority that affected all
> disabilities.  as I recall, some of the
> broad priorities from which to choose were architectural
> barriers, transportation, financial aid, and
> several others.  The choice of architectural barriers as the top
> priority was never in doubt, and it was
> the logical choice.  At that point, curb cuts were not in use all
> over and people were still pitching a
> fit at the cost of ramps.  However, now that a priority was
> established, the various disabled groups
> were asked to split up into separate working groups and decide
> which of our particular issues would fit
> into the architectural barriers category, and that issue would
> then be the top priority for that group.
> The only thing that really fit at all for us at the time was
> brailling elevators.  When the conclusions
> of the group were published, braille elevators were listed as the
> most important barrier to blind
> persons becoming part of society.  While there were other
> organizations of the blind participating and
> they may have been happier about this choice than we were, all of
> us who were blind agreed that
> transportation was a bigger issue for us as were library services
> and education.  We experienced other
> situations where issues that we felt were crucial to our
> integration into society were subordinated by
> issues that were more important to the larger group.  While we
> probably felt this way even before the
> 70's, it became very clear to many of us at the time that we
> needed to maintain control of our destiny,
> to push the issues that were important to us, and to cooperate
> with but not be subordinate to other
> larger groups when we shared common goals which does happen
> sometimes.
>
> I think it is important that we recognize that there are others
> of note who have made contributions to
> the progress that disabled people have made.  As you know, Dr.
> tenBroek was also from Berkeley, and he
> spent considerable effort in the promotion of protections of
> other disadvantaged groups, even being
> involved in the writing of the Brown versus Board of Education
> that is thought of as being at least the
> beginning of the end of segrated schools in the United States.
> It is also good to remember, though,
> that the larger disability movement has not always been our
> friend, either.  We have much in common, but
> there is much that is unique, too, requiring us to be aware of
> the history.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Steve Jacobson
>
> On Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:28:16 -0500, Bridgit Pollpeter wrote:
>
> Chris,
>
> I hadn't heard of Ed Roberts either until I was invited to speak
> for a
> panel on disability awareness a while ago. They showed an
> interview with
> Roberts from the 60's or 70's; I believe it was an old 60 Minutes
> interview. I was surprised to learn how much this guy
> accomplished.
>
> Roberts also established the first independent living centers in
> this
> country. He believed any person with a disability can have
> independence
> and we have every right to demand that independence.
>
> It's interesting how many of you have coined Dr. Tembroek as the
> father
> of the disability rights movement because Ed Roberts is often
> referred
> to as the same. I've done no detailed research on the topic or
> either
> man, but I think we need to be a bit more open when discussing
> the
> disability rights movement. A lot of people and various
> disabilities
> belong to this movement. Blindness is of course important to us,
> and we
> want the equality and accommodations necessary to be a successful
> person
> who is blind, but we also should realize that the Federation and
> it's
> founding fathers are not the end-all-be-all in the disabled
> community.
> When it comes to blindness, the Federation has probably done the
> most
> positive work, but other people and entities exist who share
> similar
> goals and philosophies towards disability.
>
> Roberts was referred to as a "cripple," and because of his
> disability,
> high schools and colleges didn't want to allow him to graduate or
> even
> enroll. His disability was considered too severe to accomplish
> requirements necessary for school, and in the long run, many
> believed it
> wasn't worth it for a person with such a "severe" disability
> because
> he'd never be able to truly participate in society.
>
> He fought to achieve higher education, and to receive the
> accommodations
> necessary to accomplish this goal. This is why, upon his
> acceptance to
> UC Berkley, he pioneered what has become the disability services
> department most colleges now have. In terms of services for blind
> students, I've heard mixed thoughts. Some have had a great
> experience,
> and others not so much. Not having attended Berkley myself, I
> can't form
> an opinion, but I can say that apparently Ed Roberts did a lot
> that has
> helped a lot of disabled students achieve higher education.
>
> Roberts also helped create the World Institute on Disability, an
> organization dedicated to changing life for disabled people
> that's led
> by disabled people. Here's its mission statement: The mission of
> the
> World Institute on Disability (WID) in communities and nations
> worldwide
> is to eliminate barriers to full social integration and increase
> employment, economic security and healthcare for persons living
> with
> disabilities. WID creates innovative programs and tools, conducts
> research, public education, training and advocacy campaigns; and
> provides technical assistance.
>
> Hmmm... Who does this sound like? Familiar?
>
> I think we need to open our eyes and learn to work with other
> organizations sharing our goals and missions. We do have specific
> needs
> each respective group pushes individually, but we have a lot in
> common,
> and perhaps working together on more efforts, truly working
> together,
> would give us a louder voice to make change.
>
> It's a big world and the Federation isn't the only organization
> pushing
> progressive, total independence.
>
> For any interested, here's a link to WID's website:
> http://www.wid.org/
>
> Sincerely,
> Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
> Read my blog at:
> http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/
>
> "History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
> The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2011 09:21:18 -0400
> From: Chris Nusbaum <dotkid.nusbaum at gmail.com
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing
> 	list<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Lives Worth Living disability rights
> documentary
> 	airs	onPBS
> Message-ID: <4ea5665b.8a8bec0a.1b3c.fffff29c at mx.google.com
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> Hi Bridgit,
>
> I just learned something! I'd never heard of Ed Roberts until
> now! So, if you think about it, although Roberts wasn't blind
> himself nor was he involved in the Federation (or any other
> blindness organization for that matter,) he did something for us
> by fighting for the right of people with disabilities to travel
> on airplanes (which the Federation also fought for,) and by
> fighting for accomodations to be provided at universities, which
> many of us on this very list are reeping the benefits of every
> day.
>
> Chris
>
>
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-- 
Dezman Jackson, NOMC, NCLB