Diane J. Lipton

Diane J Lipton

Diane J. Lipton (1945-2002), Disability Rights Leader, Dies at 57

Diane Julia Lipton, the Director of the Children with Disabilities Advocacy program at the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF), died Thursday, at the age of 57, after a two-year battle with cancer, in Richmond, California. Born in New York City in 1945, Lipton fought for the rights of children with disabilities for over two decades.

Diane started her career as a teacher and rehabilitation counselor but came to her true calling as an advocate for the civil rights of children with disabilities in 1979 when her daughter, Chloe, who has cerebral palsy, was segregated and deprived of her educational rights as a child in the Richmond, California, school system. With other parents, Diane was able to orchestrate the closing of all disability-segregated schools in Richmond. Representative George Miller of Contra Costa County, California, stated: "I have had the privilege of working with Diane Lipton since her child, Chloe, was born with cerebral palsy in 1972. Diane began advocating for her own child and then became a nationally recognized spokesperson for the rights of children with disabilities to receive integrated, appropriate, dignified educational services."

After her successful campaign in Richmond, Diane decided to go to law school so that she could more completely fight for the rights of all children with disabilities. She joined DREDF establishing a national advocacy litigation policy and legislative reform division. Senator Edward Kennedy, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee, acknowledges the grave loss for the community: "I want to express my deepest regrets to Diane Lipton's family, her colleagues at DREDF and the whole disability community. We have lost one of our heroes, a woman who fought valiantly not only for her own child with cerebral palsy, but for all children across the nation. Diane Lipton worked for the equality of children with disabilities to the very end of her life. We will continue in her memory."

She received a number of awards and honors, including two American Jurisprudence Awards, the Distinguished Parent Award from the Association for Severely Handicapped (TASH), and as well as honors and awards from the Developmental Disabilities Counsel, and the National Center in Educational Restructuring and Inclusion

She earned a law degree from Golden Gate University School of Law, San Francisco, California, an M. S. degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from San Francisco State University and a B. A. from the University of California, Berkeley.

She is survived by her husband, James Armstrong, of Richmond, California, and by daughters, Daria Armstrong (Richmond, California), and Chloe Lipton (Emeryville, California).

The funeral will be held at Wilson & Kratzer Mortuaries, 455 24th street, Richmond, California, at 1:30, Sunday, August 11, 2002.

A memorial service will be held in the fall.

The family has requested that contributions be made either to the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund in Berkeley, California, or to East Bay Innovations in Oakland.

For more information, contact Linda Kilb at (510) 644-2555.

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