Inside the Independent Living Centers with Dj, Les Paul

Ed Roberts
Born Jan. 23, 1939, in California and died on March 14, 1995.

In the late 60's and early 70's the University of California at Berkeley was nationally known as the home of radical politics and progressive social movements. Mario Savio and the 1964 free speech movement set the tone and developed the model for the movements that followed such as the Yippies and the Black Panthers,

particularly influencing campus anti-war movements and tactics for student involvement in ethnic and racial social movements.

Many students took note and developed progressive movements to benefit various causes. Among the students on the Berkeley campus was Ed Roberts. The university hesitated to admit Ed as he was severely disabled from polio which he contracted as a teenager.

He had virtually no functional movement and was dependent on a respirator to breath. "We've Tried Cripples Before and It Didn't Work", said the university. They reluctantly admitted Ed in 1962 and arranged for him to live in the campus medical facility, Cowell Hall. His brother, also a student, served as an on campus PA, often pushing Ed from class to class in an old manual wheelchair.

I'm honored to have our great advocate and friend, Les Paul Morgan as well as 14 year veteran of ILC work, Angel Watson as we talk about the incredible effect CIL's have had in our community over the last few decades.