Roger Demosthenes O'Kelly - A Most Remarkable Lawyer

Here's a sneak peek into my research process: I usually get a handle on the basics of the person's life story through Wikipedia, then go to Google for the detailed information and primary sources (meaning accounts written about them during their lifetime). This post did not go that way. The Wikipedia article is very short and poorly researched, and unfortunately I could not find many articles online that provided more information. Luckily, they did cite a couple primary sources, so I got to spend time going through old newspapers and census records, which I actually find quite fun!

Roger, 1927

Ragnhild Kåta - Living Well

A running theme I have inadvertently created in this blog is how important equal access to education is, even and especially if accommodations need to be made.  Convincing the general public that people with disabilities have a right to an education has taken centuries of work, thanks to many activists like Helen Keller, a deafblind American woman. Thinking about her got me wondering about others like her in countries outside of the United States. In my research for topic ideas, I found today's subject. She is not "Norway's Helen Keller;" she was an inspiration to Helen Keller herself.

Ragnhild and Hofgaard

Ed Roberts - Be an Artichoke

One of the biggest observations I have made while writing for this blog is, "Boy, it's so different having disabilities today than it was then!" This is not due to chance; this is a consequence of intensive work of disability rights activists and families who fought for decades. My sister was born the year after the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed: her life has been made immeasurably better because of hundreds of activists that my family has never met. Today, I am honoring the work of just one of these crusaders. Though he passed away the day after my sister's fourth birthday, I hope he knows how grateful we are for him.

Ed in the l970s