An Independent Man
Ed Roberts and the Fight for Disability Rights
1st Edition
Published on 14. October 2025
432 pages
978-0-520-41265-1 (ISBN)
Description
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.
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.
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Other editions
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Book
10/2025
University of California Press
€28.50
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Person
Scot Danforth is the Jack H. and Paula A. Hassinger Chair in Education and Professor of Disability Studies at Chapman University.
Content
Contents
Acknowledgments
1. Fight
2. The Crippler
3. Vegetable
4. Reborn
5. King of the Cripples
6. Learning to Fight
7. Dr. Bruyn's Program
8. Death and Renewal
9. Radical Berkeley
10. A New Movement
11. Humblest Beginnings
12. Joan
13. Judy
14. I'm Here, We're Here
15. Across America
16. Revolution in Sacramento
17. Winning
18. Pride in 25 Days
19. Nationwide Independence
20. Vegetables Unite!
21. A Magical Place
22. Grief and Genius
23. Partners
24. Men of Adventure
25. Lenin's Tomb Is Inaccessible
26. Passing the Torch
27. To the Smithsonian
28. Interdependence
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
1. Fight
2. The Crippler
3. Vegetable
4. Reborn
5. King of the Cripples
6. Learning to Fight
7. Dr. Bruyn's Program
8. Death and Renewal
9. Radical Berkeley
10. A New Movement
11. Humblest Beginnings
12. Joan
13. Judy
14. I'm Here, We're Here
15. Across America
16. Revolution in Sacramento
17. Winning
18. Pride in 25 Days
19. Nationwide Independence
20. Vegetables Unite!
21. A Magical Place
22. Grief and Genius
23. Partners
24. Men of Adventure
25. Lenin's Tomb Is Inaccessible
26. Passing the Torch
27. To the Smithsonian
28. Interdependence
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
