Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1759) expressing support for designation of January 23rd as ``Ed Roberts Day''. The Clerk read the title of the resolution. The text of the resolution is as follows: H. Res. 1759 Whereas Edward Verne Roberts was born January 23, 1939; Whereas Roberts acquired polio as an adolescent in 1953 and had to spend vast expanses of time in an iron lung; Whereas Roberts' career as an advocate began when a high school administrator threatened to deny him a diploma because he had not completed driver's education and physical education; Whereas in 1962 Roberts was admitted to the University of California at Berkeley (UC Berkeley) where he became the first severely disabled student to attend UC Berkeley; Whereas when his search for housing at the university met resistance, the director of the campus hospital offered Roberts a room in an empty wing, which Roberts accepted on the condition that it was considered a dormitory space; Whereas other significantly disabled students joined Roberts in the empty wing over the next few years and called themselves the ``Rolling Quads''; Whereas at UC Berkeley the Rolling Quads began advocating for curb cuts, opening access to the wider community and creating the first student-led disability services program at a university in the Nation; Whereas the student program led to the creation of the Nation's first center for independent living; Whereas Roberts assumed leadership of t…”