Zona Roberts, of Berkeley, remembers the early discussions about how to best honor her late son, Ed Roberts, who has been called the father of the disability rights movement.
When someone at an early meeting suggested they put his likeness on a U.S. postage stamp, "someone spoke up and said, 'Ed would never go for that,' " she recalled of the discussion back in 1995.
He'd want something inclusive, a place to bring different types of people together to do good works. He'd want something that would benefit as many people as possible, she said.
It took 15 years, but the Ed Robert Campus, a one-stop center for disability services, opened last November and is expected to serve at least 30,000 people annually at the Ashby BART station.
The grand opening celebration with Mayor Tom Bates and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, is from 1-4 p.m. Saturday at the campus, 3075 Adeline Street. Parking will be available.
The first-of-its-kind center is named for Roberts, who had polio and slept in an 800-pound iron lung, but was also the first student with severe disabilities to attend UC Berkeley.
via mercurynews.com