Hale

Hale Zukas, 73, has had cerebral palsy since birth. He attended the University of California at Berkeley during the height of the Free Speech Movement. Hale is a math major, and fluent in Russian. He was one of the founding members of the Center for Independent Living in Berkeley, the first group of its kind in the world dedicated to advocate for the rights of disabled people. He worked with Ed Roberts and Judy Heumann for many years, and was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to serve on the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board in Washington. Hale was instrumental in shaping the B.A.R.T Accessibility Task Force to assist San Francisco Bay Area transit riders in gaining public access to transit systems. In 2012, a permanent plaque was placed in his honor at the Ashby rail station in Berkeley. Berkeley is the birthplace of the disability movement, and the work started by Hale and others in the 1970's forever changed how the world looks at disability. Today, he continues to advocate for disability rights worldwide. This film chronicles the current life and history of a disability rights pioneer. We also explore the 504 Demonstrations of 1977 where Hale and other disability activists occupied the San Francisco Federal Building to demand equality for disability rights.