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Saturday, October 2, 2021

Curb Cuts

Cemented history lies at our feet on the many corners of city streets. From the muddy foot paths of early days wooden sidewalks evolved, followed by cement sidewalks that only the able bodied could navigate with ease. This invisible history of creating curb cuts ~ the dip and slope of a curb ~ was pushed ahead in the 1960’s at U.C.Berkeley by a group of activists, The Rolling Quads, and especially one member Ed Roberts. Ed Roberts, a “pioneering leader and educator of disability rights and the Independent Living Movement, had quadriplegia resulting from polio when he was 14 in 1953. This short essay was inspired by the CBC Ideas episode from February 09, 2021 “Discovering the secret language of cities reveals delight” in an interview with Roman Mars podcast host of '99% Invisible'.


“There are only two kinds of people in the world: 

the disabled, and the yet-to-be-disabled.”

~ Ed Roberts


**Please get your vaccine.


 

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