--- description: Google Doodle has payed homage to the 78th birthday of the pioneering disability campaigner Ed Roberts with artwork title: Google Doodle Honors Pioneering Disability Activist Ed Roberts image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt581aeef4cf8a2e5f/6988b6ba2dce0131cf9ebff2/ed-roberts-google-doodle.png?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Google Doodle Honors Pioneering Disability Activist Ed Roberts by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Dec 14, 2023 11:27 PM CUTPublished: Jan 23, 2017 2:02 PM CUT  by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Dec 14, 2023 11:27 PM CUTPublished: Jan 23, 2017 2:02 PM CUT [Google Doodle](http://time.com/4619591/google-doodle-charles-macintosh-birthday/ "undefined") paid homage on Monday to what would have been the 78th birthday of pioneering disability campaigner [Ed Roberts](http://cilncf.org/cil-history/ "undefined") — who fought throughout his lifetime for people with disabilities to have the right to fully participate in society — with artwork featuring the activist giving a lecture from his wheelchair. The late American activist was paralyzed from the neck down after contracting polio at the age of 14\. “I watched Ed as he grew from a sports-loving kid, through bleak days of hopelessness, into self-acceptance of his physical limitations as he learned what was possible for him to accomplish,” his mother Zona Roberts said, [according to Google](https://www.google.com/doodles/ed-robertss-78th-birthday "undefined"). His debilitating condition required him to use a wheelchair, and forced Roberts to sleep in a 800-pound iron lung at night. Roberts’ lifetime of activism began in high school, when he petitioned against being blocked from gaining his diploma because he had not completed driver’s education and physical education. After receiving his diploma, Roberts went on to become the first student with severe disabilities to attend the University of California, Berkeley. At Berkeley, Roberts’ activism took shape. “There, he led other Berkeley students with severe disabilities in creating the Physically Disabled Students Program, the first of its kind,” Google writes. Roberts went on to receive his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science from the college, later returning to lead the Berkeley Center for Independent Living — [a project](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16596799 "undefined") that became a model for disability rights around the globe. Roberts became director of the California Department of Vocational Rehabilitation in 1976 and co-founded the World Institute on Disability in 1983\. He died in 1995. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4643095/google-doodle-ed-roberts/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4643095/google-doodle-ed-roberts/"},"headline":"Google Doodle Honors Pioneering Disability Activist Ed Roberts","datePublished":"2017-01-23T14:02:07.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-14T23:27:58.000Z","description":"Throughout his lifetime, Roberts fought for people with disabilities to have the right to fully participate in society","url":"https://time.com/4643095/google-doodle-ed-roberts/","keywords":["Tech","Google","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt581aeef4cf8a2e5f/6988b6ba2dce0131cf9ebff2/ed-roberts-google-doodle.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt581aeef4cf8a2e5f/6988b6ba2dce0131cf9ebff2/ed-roberts-google-doodle.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"ed-roberts-google-doodle","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4643095/google-doodle-ed-roberts/","name":"Google Doodle Honors Pioneering Disability Activist Ed Roberts"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How Google Makes its Doodles","description":"Our videographer went to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California to meet some of the designers and coders who create the special, clever variations on the Google.com logo known as","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/upF0qp1E/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-07-07T16:09:57.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/upF0qp1E.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4643095/google-doodle-ed-roberts/","duration":"PT3M23S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4643095/google-doodle-ed-roberts/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```