Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/998534
7 T M C » P U L S E | J U LY 2 0 1 8 Q | Was there a singular event that inspired your advocacy work? A | After I was at TIRR, I went back to Oklahoma and applied to Oral Roberts University. I was turned down because I had a disability. [Editor's note: Oral Roberts University did not respond to questions regarding Lex Frieden.] I'm thankful for that experience. That taught me what discrim- ination was about. People were being told—some on the basis of race, some on the basis of gender— that they couldn't do things that they knew they could just because of a characteristic over which they had no control. That's what happened to me. They had sidewalks, doorways and ramps. Why couldn't I go to college there? Well, because they didn't want me there. Simple as that. My friend, who graduated from the University of Tulsa, said: 'You ought to go out there and talk to the admissions people.' I said, 'I don't see the point; they don't have a single building that is accessible.' I met the dean of admissions for the (continued) Lex Frieden visits the Metropolitan Multi-Service Center, an adaptive sports and recreational facility for people with disabilities in Houston's Montrose area. I'm thankful that President Ronald Reagan and the 15 appointed members of the National Council on the Handicapped hired me to be the director of that agency. I'm thankful that I had the opportunity to write the report that asked for the ADA. I'm thankful that I had the chance to write the original draft of the ADA.