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College of Virtual Knowledge Click here to get information on Disabilities Studies University Programs. TRAVEL these links for Basic Education on Independent Living: A Little History Worth Knowing An Essay by Timothy M. Cook, a champion of the Americans with Disabilities Act. During the 1960s, the modern disability rights movement began when people with disabilities around the world successfully challenged dominant social stereotypes. Father of the Independent Living Movement Dies Ed Roberts, a post-polio ventilator-using quadriplegic, broke U.S. educational barriers when he became the first person with such a significant disability to enroll at college. Roberts entered the University of California at Berkeley in 1962. During a lifetime of fighting for equality for people with disabilities he became an international representative of human rights and overthrowing oppression. But Ed did not act alone. At Berkeley, other significantly disabled individuals enrolled and coalesced into a group they named the Rolling Quads. Providing a sounding board for each other, the Rolling Quads quickly determined that their life experiences shaped a group understanding of the condition of disability and societal oppression. Founder of ADAPT The Reverend Wade Blank Dies People with disabilities recognized that they shared a similar, but unique, history based solely on the condition of disability. Since the most apparent trait of this history was a legacy of oppression, the overwhelming need for political change took precedent over other endeavors. ADAPT Not Dead Yet The Disabilities/Industrial Complex While political activism remained the most visible arena of disability rights into the 1970s and 1980s, other avenues of expression took shape. Disabled Individuals Movement for Equality NET Justice for ALL National Council on Disability DIMENET Hot News NET A significant discussion about language and its meaning raged throughout the 1980s in a new outlet: the disability press. Magazines like Mainstream, the Disability Rag, and the older Accent on Living, discussed these changes and published articles written by disabled individuals. Disability Magazine Page One of the most important results of these debates was a Revolution in the perception of disability from weak and discounted to strong and valued. A traditional antipathy to identification as an individual with a disability turned into pride in both individual and group strength. The pervasiveness of this change affected multiple constituencies. Grassroots efforts, such as the development of independent living centers and organizations like ADAPT reflected the movement's roots. Academic interest best personified in the multi-disciplinary Society for Disability Studies, formed in the 1980s, offered analytical approaches. ILRU Independent Living Research Utilization at TIRR, Lex Frieden, Laurel Richards, Laurie Gerken Redd, Quentin Smith, Cynthia Dresden. RTCIL Research and Training Center on Independent Living at the University of Kansas, Jim Budde, Glen White, Ken Golden. National Clearing House on Rehabilitation Training Materials. CIL's Round the Country Centers for Independent Living are the MASH Units of the Disability Revolution. All of the these activities have contributed to the development of disability culture, but it is the artists of various stripes who have made the culture most accessible. Fittingly, it is the San Francisco Bay Area of California, the home of the independent living movement, The Center for Independent Living Berkeley, California that has birthed the most prominent artists, such as performance artists like Cheryl Marie Wade, Wry Crips Women's Theatre, and Frank Moore; dancers Bruce Curtis and the Axis Dance Troupe; and playwright Neil Marcus. But it may be musicians, such as Cleveland's Jeff Moyer, Canada's Jane Field, and England's Johnny Crescendo who signify the worldwide development of the Disability Culture Movement. All of these individuals and groups represent the tip of an enormous iceberg called Disability Culture which might be defined in this way: "People with disabilities have forged a group identity. We share a common history of oppression and a common bond of resilience. We generate art, music, literature, and other expressions of our lives, our culture, infused from our experience of disability. "Most importantly, we are proud of ourselves as people with disabilities. We claim our disabilities with pride as part of our identity. "We are who we are: we are people with disabilities." (Steve Brown, 1996) Find More: ILRU Library Sat Jul 5 06:10:26 2008 Send mail to webmaster@virtualcil.com with questions or comments about this web site. Copyright © 2000 DIMENET Virtual Center for Independent Living Last modified: Fri May 9 05:42:36 2003 UTC