Ed Roberts's Wheelchair
date: label: Date made
content: 1996
label: associated dates
content: 1966-1999-03
name: label: referenced
content: Independent Living Movement
label: referenced
content: University of California, Berkeley
label: user
content: Roberts, Edward V.
label: maker
content: Stanford Rehab Engineering
notes: label: Description
content: Equipped with a sports-car seat, go-cart wheels, and a top speed of eight miles an hour, this wheelchair belonged to disability-rights pioneer Ed Roberts. Roberts was paralyzed by polio in 1953, at age fourteen. In 1962 he enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley, where he led efforts to establish a program for disabled students. He later founded the Independent Living Movement, a worldwide campaign to secure civil rights, equal access, and self-sufficiency for people with disabilities.
label: Description
content: Ref: “Edward V. Roberts, Champion of the Disabled,” New York Times (March 16, 1995), p B13.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: California, Palo Alto
label: referenced
content: United States: California, Berkeley
label: referenced
content: United States: California
topic: label: Subject
content: Disabilities
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Health & Medicine
label: See more items in
content: The Antibody Initiative
label: See more items in
content: Family & Social Life
label: See more items in
content: National Treasures exhibit
label: See more items in
content: Antibody Initiative: Polio
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Kendrick, Kathleen M. and Peter C. Liebhold. Smithsonian Treasures of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Zona L. Roberts in memory of Edward V. Roberts
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1995.0179.01
label: catalog number
content: 1995.0179.01
label: accession number
content: 1995.0179
objectType: label: Object Name
content: wheelchair
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: leather (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: rubber (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: blue (overall color)
label: Measurements
content: average spatial: 42 in x 24 in x 46 in; 106.68 cm x 60.96 cm x 116.84 cm