An Independent Man
Join us for a talk by Chapman University Professor Scot Danforth on his new book An Independent Man: Ed Roberts and the Fight for Disability Rights. Presented in partnership with UC Press
About the Book
The first biography of one of the founders of the disability rights movement, An Independent Man chronicles the life of an activist who reimagined the meaning of equality and inspired generations of reformers.
Before Jonas Salk’s vaccine, polio was a social death sentence. The disabled were expected to disappear into their limitations, pitied by those around them. This might have been the story of Ed Roberts, paralyzed and consigned to sleep in an iron lung. But Roberts insisted on what all people deserve: a full life.
Scot Danforth deftly captures Roberts’s adventurous personality and radical vision, chronicling his life from his student activist days at the University of California, Berkeley, in the early 1960s to his career highlights of establishing the pioneering Center for Independent Living and directing California’s Department of Rehabilitation. By insisting that disabled persons are valuable members of society, and by translating his ideas into action, Roberts laid the ground for the Americans with Disabilities Act and the ongoing movement for equality.
About the Author
Scot Danforth is the Jack H. and Paula A. Hassinger Chair in Education and Professor of Disability Studies at Chapman University.
Find out more at the University of California Press
Wheelchair accessible. Request sign language interpreter, real-time captioning, materials in large print, braille, or other accommodations by calling 510-981-6195 (Library) or the 510-981-6347 (City of Berkeley TDD line). Please refrain from scented products during public programs.