It's guys like this who I had in mind when I was asked at the beginning of a class in 1998 who my hero was. I was the last one to answer in the only one who didn't cite some ridiculous figure.
On Sun, Jun 14, 2009 at 3:04 PM, bob quinn <[email protected]> wrote: > Not a quad, but a hero to quads: > *Charlie Sabatier; helped win access, respect for disabled* [image: Mayor > Raymond Flynn put Charles Sabatier (also in recent photo] Mayor Raymond > Flynn put Charles Sabatier in charge of the city's access effort in 1985. > (Globe File) > By Bryan > Marquard<http://search.boston.com/local/Search.do?s.sm.query=Bryan+Marquard&camp=localsearch:on:byline:art> > Globe Staff / June 12, 2009 > > A bullet severed Charlie Sabatier's spinal cord in 1968 as he crossed a > battlefield in Vietnam to help another soldier on the first day of the Tet > Offensive, and he navigated the rest of his life in a wheelchair. > > Four decades ago, he came home to intersections without sidewalk curb cuts, > public buildings without elevators, and policies that set the disabled > apart, sometimes in humiliating fashion. Mr. Sabatier made it his life work > to change policies, physical structures, and the way people thought. > > "My goal is equal citizenship," he told the Globe in 1988 as he prepared to > step down as executive director of Boston's Commission for Persons with > Disabilities. "Nothing less is acceptable. We're looking for equitable > treatment, although not necessarily identical. A disabled person should have > the same options as everybody else. I came within an inch of giving my life > for this country. The idea of being denied equal opportunity because it > might not be cost-effective is utterly reprehensible to me." > > Mr. Sabatier, who helped get an elevator installed in Faneuil Hall and took > a stand against degrading treatment on airlines, died of cancer yesterday in > his Wellesley home. He was 63. > > Raymond L. Flynn, who was mayor when he appointed Mr. Sabatier to head > disability affairs, credited Mr. Sabatier's leadership with making Boston > more accessible, including Faneuil Hall. > > "Here you have the cradle of liberty, America's most historic building, but > for people who were handicapped, there was no way of getting in there," > Flynn said. "Charlie was able to work through the process and get it done. > Because of him, the people's building really became the people's building, > all the peoples' building." > > As head of the city commission and more recently as senior policy adviser > in the US Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy, Mr. > Sabatier worked to ensure that others would have a different experience than > what he endured in the years after returning from Vietnam. > > In Boston, he helped get dozens more curb cuts each year at intersections, > pushed election officials to make polling places more accessible, and > initiated studies to determine the cost of making each building used by city > government accessible. > > "I look at myself as a gunslinger," he told the Globe in July 1988, a > couple of weeks before leaving the commission to attend law school. "I took > this job with specific ideas of what I wanted to do, and I've done them. Now > it's time to do something else." > > <http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2009/06/12/charlie_sabatier_helped_win_access_respect_for_disabled?page=2>Charles > J. Sabatier Jr. grew up in Galveston, Texas, and was the first in his family > to finish high school, said his wife, Peggy Griffin. His first attempt at > college did not pan out, and he ended up in the US Army. > > Stationed in Germany, he was later sent to Vietnam, where North Vietnamese > forces launched an incursion in early 1968 that became known as the Tet > Offensive. Mr. Sabatier was 22. > > "He was shot on the first day of the Tet Offensive," Griffin said. "He went > out to rescue a fellow soldier who had been shot, who was calling and > calling for him. Just as he got to the young man, he was shot in the back. > Ironically, it's what ended up changing his life in many positive ways." > > First, though, came months of recuperation. Overcoming his initial > embarrassment at having to use a wheelchair, he graduated from the > University of Nevada at Las Vegas in 1972 with a bachelor's degree in > political science and became involved with the advocacy group Paralyzed > Veterans of America. > > While working in Washington, D.C., he met Griffin, who was there for an > internship while attending Boston University. They married in May 1981 and > lived in the Auburndale section of Newton. > > Mr. Sabatier was assistant director of the state Office of Handicapped > Affairs in March 1982 when he decided he would no longer abide by a Delta > Airlines policy that passengers using wheelchairs must sit on a blanket, > rather than just the seat. The airline said it was for swifter evacuation in > case of an emergency, but Mr. Sabatier believed the policy was Delta's way > of preventing damage if disabled passengers had difficulty controlling their > bladders. > > Arrested on a disorderly conduct charge for refusing to sit on the blanket, > he made more headlines when he was arraigned in East Boston District Court, > which was not accessible to wheelchairs. He refused the judge's offer to > have court officers carry him upstairs into the courtroom, and was arraigned > in the hallway. > > Within a month, Delta dropped its policy of placing blankets under > passengers who use wheelchairs and paid Mr. Sabatier $2,500 to avoid a > lawsuit. The disorderly conduct charge was dropped. > > After working with the city commission in the late 1980s, Mr. Sabatier went > to California, where he graduated from the University of San Diego School of > Law in 1992. During his first year at law school, his wife had triplets: > Charles, Caroline, and Danielle. > > "He always used to say he was the oldest disabled guy to have triplets the > first year of law school and graduate on time," his wife said. > > The family moved to Texas, where Mr. Sabatier worked on advocacy issues in > the years after the federal Americans with Disabilities Act was enacted. In > 1996, they settled in Wellesley, and Mr. Sabatier commuted to Washington for > his job with the Labor Department, where part of his work involved veterans > injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. > > "He knew how they thought; he knew the kind of information they would need > and the sequence in which they would need it," said his boss, Susan B. > Parker, director of policy development in the Labor Department office. "He > knew what those transitions meant." > > "My husband talked with them about the three miracles in his life," Griffin > said. "He'd say, 'My three miracles are, I got out of Vietnam alive, I met > and married my wife, Peg, and we had my three children.' And he would tell > them, 'You will have your miracles, too, but you have to go out there and > find them.' " > > In addition to his wife and children, Mr. Sabatier leaves his stepmother, > Edith of Santa Fe, Texas; three sisters, Lisa of Santa Fe, Texas, and Sandy > Saeed and Crystal Foreman, both of Dickinson, Texas; and two brothers, Mark > and Michael, both of Dickinson. > > A funeral Mass will be said at 11 a.m. Wednesday in St. John the Evangelist > Church in Wellesley. Burial will be in Woodlawn Cemetery in Wellesley. > > obit url: > http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2009/06/12/charlie_sabatier_helped_win_access_respect_for_disabled/ >
