TMC PULSE

t m c » p u l s e | j u ly 2 0 1 5 6 t m c » p u l s e | j u ly 2 0 1 5 6 Twenty-five years later, the law marks the most sweep- ing disability rights legislation in history, closely modeled after the Civil Rights Act. "I've admired Lex since I first heard about him," said Gerard Francisco, M.D., chief medical officer at TIRR Memorial Hermann and chairman of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at UTHealth. "I feel that what I'm doing on a daily basis to help my patients with disabilities is largely affected by Lex's work in the 1970s and the passing of the ADA in 1990. My mission and vision for rehabilita- tion has been influenced, to a certain extent, by those accomplishments." Frieden's role in shaping history stemmed from a head-on car crash in 1967 that left him paralyzed from the waist down. After coming to TIRR Memorial Hermann for rehabilitation, Frieden, then an 18-year- old freshman at Oklahoma State University, left determined to move forward. "When I left TIRR, my doctors said that I could do anything I had done before I was injured—I just had to figure out how to do it on four wheels," he recalled. "That didn't seem intimidating to me, because we were sending men to the moon at that time. I left with a pretty positive attitude." Unfortunately, that optimism was deflated by the realities of wheelchair accessibility at Oklahoma State, where a lack of ramps made stairs and sidewalks loom large. After dropping out and setting his sights on Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Frieden faced another setback. "After applying, I got a letter back a few weeks later that said my admission had been denied," he said. "I was sure there had been some mistake. Eventually, I just asked the dean, 'What could possibly be the problem?' It was because I had indicated that I used a wheelchair for mobility on my application—their policy was not to accept students with disabilities. I couldn't even tell my parents. It was the first time after I broke my neck that I truly felt depressed." Rebuffed, Frieden went to the University of Tulsa instead, where he graduated in three years. In 1971, he went on to pursue a master's degree at the University of Houston, enticed by the fact that it was one of the first major colleges in the nation to have ramps in its buildings. As a student, Frieden had the opportunity to do a fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine, as well as work at TIRR Memorial Hermann. "When I graduated, it just seemed natural to continue working in that stim- ulating milieu," he said. "Baylor hired me as a research assistant, and my post at TIRR was developing pro- grams to help former patients live independently in the community. And then we began to document what environmental barriers they faced." That systematic process led Frieden and his peers to question what style of living would help to lessen some of those obstacles. In 1976, they founded the Independent Living Research Utilization program, eventually helping to organize about 400 centers of independent living in the United States over the next decade. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)—closely modeled after the Civil Rights Act of 1964—prohibits discrimination based on disability. The ADA includes both mental and physical disabilities and requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities. The Act also imposes accessibility requirements on public places like hospitals and schools. POPULATION people in the United States have a disability 1 37.6 MILLION SPECIFIC DISABILITIES 14.3 MILLION people reported a cognitive disability 1 that interferes with daily activity EDUCATION 12.4 PERCENT of disabled people age 21 and older have a bachelor's degree or higher 1 ON THE JOB of disabled 21- to 64-year-olds reported employment 1 ACCESSIBILITY 98 PERCENT of transit buses have been equipped with lifts or ramps as of 2011, which represents a 62 percent increase from 1995 2 EQUIPMENT people age 15 and older use a wheelchair 2 3.6 MILLION A M E R I C A N S with D I S A B I L I T I E S A C T A M E R I C A N S with D I S A B I L I T I E S A C T 1: Disability Statistics from the 2012 American Community Survey 2: The United States Census Bureau 33.5 PERCENT

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