January 23rd is Ed Roberts Day. In memory, we are printing this tribute by Stephen Dale. The First Time I Met Ed Roberts Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill when he was in office creating Ed Roberts Day, encouraging schools and other institutions to educate the public about the disability-rights pioneer every year on his birthday, Jan. 23. Ed sadly passed away in 1995, but his influence still affects me personally and the community I serve. In order for me to tell my story about the first time I met Ed Roberts, I need to give a little background. I had been working as a psychiatric technician at Sonoma Developmental Center after working at some pretty terrible units at Napa State Hospital. I had decided that I wanted to become an attorney and had just finished law school, and was working as an intern at Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) while I studied and took the bar exam. My goal had been to become an advocate for moving persons with mental illness in state hospitals in favor of community living. My wife and I had also had a business called In-service Video which provided education for nurses via cable television and I had gained some expertise in video production. DREDF in those days did an annual program at Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley’s Law School, on a variety of subjects dealing with disability rights. The goal was to inspire law students ot become disability rights lawyers. I had asked my directing attorney, Sid Wolinski, if I could video tape the sessions to be used later and he consented. The day of the event, I came early and set up the camera. I also found a prime spot up front so I could keep an eye on the camera and have a good view of the speakers. So the room filled, first speaker came, and in the middle of the first presentation what seemed like this enormous contraption with this noisy device parked itself right in front of me – how rude. I remember that my first thought was – would someone get this thing out of my way? That was the first time I met Ed. As it turned out the contraption was Ed Roberts and his electric wheelchair and the noise was his respirator. He was the next speaker. To watch his presentation, go to achievingindependence.tv/video/Ed_Roberts/Full/FullEdit.html . I had no way of knowing at the time the influence this man would have over my life as an advocate, but also as a human being. I had just finished being involved in a pretty important case that made major changes for persons with developmental disabilities in developmental centers. I felt that I had a pretty good handle on being a compassionate caregiver as a nurse and as an attorney to be. I knew it all and I would bestow my advanced thinking on persons with disabilities. What I had to learn was how to relate to persons with disabilities as people, and not as objects of my compassion. At that point I was ending a 17 period as a psych nurse and had dedicated my life to caring for the less fortunate. Ed challenged everything I thought I knew. I had never dealt with someone who had the level of disability he had as anything other than an object to be cared for. I certainly never met someone this disabled that was my equal. Now in fact – Ed was not my equal – he was the master – I was the student. For those who don’t know the Ed Roberts story, Ed got polio as a child, and became one of the leading disability rights advocates leading to many changes making countless things we take for granted assailable to persons with disabilities. A good place to lean about Ed and is incredible life is yodisabledproud.org/ed-roberts-day/#share . He had been featured on 60 minutes. See https://youtube/watch?x-yt-ts=1421828030&v=ZxidR5SZXxA&x-yt-cl=84411374 One of the rifts that Ed liked to talk about was the myth of the super-cripple (his term). Ed would share all sorts of stories about how the public either relates to persons with disabilities as objects, and at the other end of the spectrum as super-cripples with superior powers to compensate for their disabilities. This puts a lot of pressure on many persons with disabilities because they are expected to do inspirational feats to inspire others. The lesson in his stories is that persons with disabilities are just people in most cases with the same desires and the same weaknesses as anyone else. Like any other civil rights movement, we will conquer our racial prejudices when we all as a society relate to others as people and not by the color of their skin. Rights and opportunities that the non-disabled take for granted have yet to be achieved despite a lot of movement forward – there is much more to do. True disability rights will be achieved when we as a society see persons with disabilities as people – no better – no worse – than you or me. So in honor of Ed, please take some time and learn about his remarkable life. Ed Roberts Day is a good way to teach not only about disability rights, but more importantly about the value of relating to persons with disabilities as people, not as objects of our compassion. Stephen W. Dale
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 01:30:04 +0000
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