Berkeley Shows the Way
in Disabled Community
by Ken Duffy

Motorized wheelchairs. Wheelchair ramps. Wheelchair lifts in buses. Braille signage. Speech synthesizers. Text telephones. Blue parking zones.

People living with disabilities rely on these every day, but they do not have to look far in the past to recall a colder world. Disabled people in Berkeley have made history in their own lifetimes, revolutionizing their relationship with the world around them and paving the way for others. An exhibit by the Berkeley Historical Society, "Berkeley Leads: Thirty-Five Years of Disability Rights," during 1997 showed how it all began.

At a reception in April 1997, in the Berkeley Veterans Building where the Society has a small museum and research center, people gathered to look back in celebration of hard-won victories of policy and personal courage in a burgeoning community of mutual support. "Berkeley Leads" co-curators, Linda Rosen and Carole Krezman, were joined by panelists Susan O'Hara, disability historian; Gerald Baptiste, of the Center for Independent Living (CIL); and Michael Williams, disability activist. Through anecdotes and narratives, they presented a picture of the incredible changes in the lives of people with disabilities in the thirty-five years since Ed Roberts became the first severely disabled student to attend UC Berkeley.

Living in the old Cowell Hospital, Roberts and John Hessler teamed up to form the Physically Disabled Students' Program. Susan O'Hara remembers how this program and the community that had grown up around it changed her life when she visited one summer from Chicago. She described herself as once having fit all the stereotypes of the shut-in disabled person. In Berkeley she discovered a lively community of people with disabilities, who challenged her to expand her horizons as well as her mobility.

Gerald Baptiste described the early days of the Center for Independent Living. CIL, a local support organization with global impact, marks its own 25th anniversary this year. CIL has helped those with disabilities to be able to live on their own, gain greater access, and get and maintain jobs. People with disabilities come to CIL from all over the world. Last week a group from Korea was in town for intensive training.

Along with other access issues, CIL lobbied for cuts in the curbs so wheelchairs could cross the street. The City of Berkeley, long a partner in improving access, was one of the first cities to build curb ramps. The 25th anniversary of the first curb ramp, described by Baptiste as "the slab of concrete heard round the world," was celebrated on April 25, 1997 with a plaque dedication at Center and Shattuck Streets, followed by a reception at the Veterans Memorial Building at 1931 Center Street.

Michael Williams gave a moving speech using a speech synthesizer. The faintly Scandinavian-sounding voice, entirely generated by computer, nonetheless conveyed the emotions of his story. He told about the time he faced his first opportunity to try a motorized wheelchair. His own inner critic wanted him to look away from an experience that would confirm for good that he was in fact disabled, but he sat down in it anyway and did what he needed to do. That was when he discovered that the wheelchair was a tool for independence.

The "Berkeley Leads" exhibit portrays the influential role disabled Berkeleyans have played in the development of the Disability Rights Movement. The exhibit features photos, posters, artifacts, and newspaper articles that tell a story which began thirty-five years ago with Ed Roberts. This was the first time the history of disability rights was gathered together for public viewing. The show ran through October 18, 1997. The Berkeley Historical Society is open Thursdays through Saturdays, from 1-4 pm. It is located at 1931 Center Street in the Veterans Memorial Building, in Berkeley, California. Telephone (510) 848-0181.