Providing information, education, and training to build knowledge, develop skills, and change attitudes that will lead to increased independence, productivity, self determination, integration and inclusion (IPSII) for people with developmental disabilities and their families.

Ed Roberts, Activist

Lee Roberts: Ed Roberts as a Dad

Lee Roberts: It was always, he was just my father. And when I was a kid, I thought his wheelchair was the greatest thing in the world. I loved the electronic toys and everything that everyone had, but to me, I had the best one ever. I had a 700-pound, going up to 10 miles per hour, Power Wheels. And my dad was the driver, and I would hop on the side of his chair, and it was amazing how many people and looks would always happen, and my father used to always say "You're the star, kid, don't worry about it."

No matter where we were going, I always liked to hop on his chair and… and just travel around. Sometimes I would like to direct him where I wanted to go, but generally, he wouldn't listen to that because he was always so interested in meeting whoever would come up.

And as a kid, trust me, I wanted to get to a destination. Where… but he always would just start having the conversations with whoever on the street, and before you know it, these people were like spilling information about their lives. And as a kid, I didn't understand it, but there was a connection being made. It was my dad's just natural thought process of wanting to get to know the person.

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The GCDD is funded under the provisions of P.L. 106-402. The federal law also provides funding to the Minnesota Disability Law Center, the state Protection and Advocacy System, and to the Institute on Community Integration, the state University Center for Excellence. The Minnesota network of programs works to increase the IPSII of people with developmental disabilities and families into community life.

This project was supported, in part by grant number 2401MNSCDD, from the U.S. Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201. Grantees undertaking projects with government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official ACL policy.

This website is supported by the Administration for Community Living (ACL), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $1,152,808.00 funded by ACL/HHS and $222,000.00 funded by non-federal-government source(s). The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by ACL/HHS, or the U.S. Government.