The organizing work of hundreds of people with disabilities throughout history set the stage for several vital wins for people with disabilities that continue to be important today. One such person was Ed Roberts, who was a determined and charismatic leader in the Independent Living Movement 50 years ago. Ed was one of many people at the time fighting for the rights, autonomy, and power of people with diverse disabilities. 

 

Ed Roberts was part of many “firsts,” including starting the first program for disabled students at University of California, Berkeley, where he was a student; to being a member of the Rolling Quads that brought in curb cuts through the direct action of sledgehammering curbs with allies; to being an executive director for the first Center for Independent Living, of which there are now 400+ across the country and around the world; to serving as the first disabled State Director of Vocational Rehabilitation. Ed’s career is an example of what can be achieved when an interconnected movement of diverse people works in solidarity alongside each other. 

 

The movement for independent living and disability rights emerged from the civil rights movements of its time and was based on the principle that people with disabilities are entitled to the same civil rights, options, and control over choices in their lives as people without disabilities.

 

In 2010, the United States House of Representatives declared January 23rd as Ed Roberts Day, in commemoration of Ed’s significant and ground-breaking contributions to the disability civil rights movement. Each year on January 23rd, many independent living centers, disability organizations, disabled activists and community members take time to celebrate the life of Ed Roberts. 

 

This year, The Center for Independent Living wishes to honor Ed Roberts by not only focusing on his life and legacy, but also by situating him within the larger Disability Rights movement he helped found. The Disability Rights movement would not have been possible but for the contributions of Black, Indigenous and other disabled people of color, queer and trans disabled people, poor and working class disabled people, and many other disabled people who live(d) at the margins of power, and whose impacts on the Disability Rights movement are often overlooked and erased. 

 

A shining example of the intersectional power that uplifted the disability rights movement, and which Ed Roberts was part of, is the 1977 sit-ins for Section 504. Scholar Susan Schweik describes this historic action in the article, “Lomax’s Matrix: Disability, Solidarity, and the Black Power of 504”, as do several articles and oral histories by others. Overlapping labor movement and social justice groups supported activists with disabilities for 25 days and nights in physically occupying the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, demanding enforcement of regulations that prohibited disability discrimination.

 

Many different groups and organizations supported the Section 504 Sit-In, including the Butterfly Brigade, ‘a group of gay men who patrolled city streets on the lookout for gay violence,’ who smuggled walkie-talkies in the occupied building; Glide Church; local and national labor organizations; members of Delancey Street, the famous grassroots rehab program, who brought breakfast into the building each day; the Chicano group Mission Rebels, who also provided food; and the Black Panthers, who publicly endorsed the action and provided mattresses and hot dinners for the duration of the sit-in. 

 

Dennis Billups, a Blind, Black activist and demonstrator at the Section 504 sit-in said: 

 

“We need to do all we can. We need to show the government that we can have more force than they can ever deal with–and that we can eat more, drink more, love more and pray more than they ever knew was happening…We shouldn’t have to fight for our rights…they should already be there. But since we have to fight for them, we have an infinite amount of strength to walk. The government only has one strength to walk, they only know about the paper and file system…we are all in the light, and we should think of ourselves as being our rights.”

 

The visionary and bold leadership of a diverse range of activists like Billups contributed to the successes that enabled Ed Roberts’ own efforts to succeed. That is why this day is about more than just Ed Roberts or any individual - it is about collective action and the building of movements over time. In his victory speech after the success of the 504 Sit-Ins, Ed Roberts said:

 

 “We will together, with our friends, reshape the image that this society has of us. We are going to see attempts to divide us so that we can easily be conquered. But we will not allow that to happen. “

 

In the spirit of that commitment to solidarity, the Center for Independent Living recognizes that racial and migrant justice, queer and trans liberation, the rights of workers and unhoused people, environmental and reproductive justice, and the fight to end mass incarceration and state violence are all inherently disability issues. We’re committed to supporting and engaging in these vibrant, fierce, and intersectional movements towards justice, and on Ed Roberts Day 2023, we want to uplift disability voices and perspectives working at these many intersections.