Enabling Lives

Book excerpt: Enabling Lives provides a look at the disability civil rights movement through an intimate portrayal of the lives of several of its key leaders. Each of the chapters of this book is a separate authorized biography of such prominent figures as Frank Bowe, Tony Coelho, Justin Dart, Judy Heumann, Evan Kemp, and Harold Russell. Enabling Lives provides not only an accurate historical record of key moments in the development of civil rights for individuals with disabilities, but also invites the reader to become acquainted with the individuals who helped to shape the movement and to view history in the making through the eyes of those who were helping to create it. Each of the book's subjects has provided countless hours of interviews, recollections and "war stories" into the making of this important work, helping to create a legacy that hopefully will be carried on by the current and future leaders of the movement.