Justin
Dart, An Obituary
June 22, 2002
By Fred Fay and Fred Pelka, written at Justin Dart's request.
Justin Dart, Jr., a leader of the international disability rights movement and a
renowned human rights activist, died last night at his home in Washington D.C.
Widely recognized as "the father of the Americans with Disabilities Act" and
"the godfather of the disability rights movement," Dart had for the past several
years struggled with the complications of post-polio syndrome and congestive
heart failure. He was seventy-one years old. He is survived by his wife Yoshiko,
their extended family of foster children, his many friends and colleagues, and
millions of disability and human rights activists all over the world.
Dart was a leader in the disability rights movement for three decades, and an
advocate for the rights of women, people of color, and gays and lesbians. The
recipient of five presidential appointments and numerous honors, including the
Hubert Humphrey Award of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Dart was on
the podium on the White House lawn when President George H. Bush signed the ADA
into law in July 1990. Dart was also a highly successful entrepreneur, using his
personal wealth to further his human rights agenda by generously contributing to
organizations, candidates, and individuals, becoming what he called "a little
PAC for empowerment."
In 1998 Dart received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest
civilian award. "Justin Dart," said President Clinton in 1996, "in his own way
has the most Olympian spirit I believe I have ever come across."
Until the end, Dart remained dedicated to his vision of a "revolution of
empowerment." This would be, he said, "a revolution that confronts and
eliminates obsolete thoughts and systems, that focuses the full power of science
and free-enterprise democracy on the systematic empowerment of every person to
live his or her God-given potential." Dart never hesitated to emphasize the
assistance he received from those working with him, most especially his wife of
more than thirty years, Yoshiko Saji. "She is," he often said, "quite simply the
most magnificent human being I have ever met."
Time and again Dart stressed that his achievements were only possible with the
help of hundreds of activists, colleagues, and friends. "There is nothing I have
achieved, and no addiction I have overcome, without the love and support of
specific individuals who reached out to empower me... There is nothing I have
accomplished without reaching out to empower others."
Dart protested the fact that he and only three other disability activists were
on the podium when President Bush signed the ADA, believing that "hundreds of
others should have been there as well."
After receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Dart sent out replicas of the
award to hundreds of disability rights activists across the country, writing
that, "this award belongs to you."
Justin Dart, Jr., was born on August 29, 1930, into a wealthy and prominent
family. His grandfather was the founder of the Walgreen Drugstore chain, his
father a successful business executive, his mother a matron of the American
avant garde. Dart would later describe how he became "a super loser" as a way of
establishing his own identity in this family of "super winners." He attended
seven high schools, not graduating from any of them, and broke Humphrey Bogart's
all-time record for the number of demerits earned by a student at elite Andover
prep. "People didn't like me. I didn't like myself."
Dart contracted polio in 1948. With doctors saying he had less than three days
to live, he was admitted into the Seventh Day Adventist Medical University in
Los Angeles. "For the first time in my life I was surrounded by people who were
openly expressing love for each other, and for me, even though I was hostile to
them. And so I started smiling at people, and saying nice things to them. And
they responded, treating me even better. It felt so good!"
Three days turned into forty years, but Dart never forgot this lesson. Polio
left Dart a wheelchair user, but he never grieved about this. "I count the good
days in my life from the time I got polio. These beautiful people not only saved
my life, they made it worth saving."
Another turning point was Dart's discovery in 1949 of the philosophy of Indas K.
Gandhi. Dart defined Gandhi's message as, "Find your own truth, and then live
it." This theme too would stay with him for the rest of his life. Dart attended
the University of Houston from 1951 to 1954, earning his bachelor's and master's
degrees in political science and history. He wanted to be a teacher, but the
university withheld his teaching certificate because he was a wheelchair user.
During his time in college, Dart organized his first human rights group -- a
pro-integration student group at what was then a whites-only institution.
Dart went into business in 1956, building several successful companies in Mexico
and Japan. He started Japan Tupperware with three employees in 1963, and by 1965
it had expanded to some 25,000. Dart used his businesses to provide work for
women and people with disabilities. In Japan, for example, he took severely
disabled people out of institutions, gave them paying jobs within his company,
and organized some of them into Japan's first wheelchair basketball team. It was
during this time he met his wife, Yoshiko.
The final turning point in Dart's life came during a visit to Vietnam in 1966,
to investigate the status of rehabilitation in that war-torn country. Visiting a
"rehabilitation center" for children with polio, Dart instead found squalid
conditions where disabled children were left on concrete floors to starve. One
child, a young girl dying there before him, took his hand and looked into his
eyes. "That scene," he would later write, "is burned forever in my soul. For the
first time in my life I understood the reality of evil, and that I was a part of
that reality."
The Darts returned to Japan, but terminated their business interests. After a
period of meditation in a dilapidated farmhouse, the two decided to dedicate
themselves entirely to the cause of human and disability rights. They moved to
Texas in 1974, and immersed themselves in local disability activism. From 1980
to 1985, Dart was a member, and then chair, of the Texas Governor's Committee
for Persons with Disabilities. His work in Texas became a pattern for what was
to follow: extensive meetings with the grassroots, followed by a call for the
radical empowerment of people with disabilities, followed by tireless advocacy
until victory was won.
In 1981, President Ronald Reagan appointed Dart to be the vice-chair of the
National Council on Disability. The Darts embarked on a nationwide tour, at
their own expense, meeting with activists in every state. Dart and others on the
Council drafted a national policy that called for national civil rights
legislation to end the centuries old discrimination of people with disabilities
-- what would eventually become the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
In 1986, Dart was appointed to head the Rehabilitation Services Administration,
a $3 billion federal agency that oversees a vast array of programs for disabled
people. Dart called for radical changes, and for including people with
disabilities in every aspect of designing, implementing, and monitoring
rehabilitation programs. Resisted by the bureaucracy, Dart dropped a bombshell
when he testified at a public hearing before Congress that the RSA was "a vast,
inflexible federal system which, like the society it represents, still contains
a significant portion of individuals who have not yet overcome obsolete,
paternalistic attitudes about disability." Dart was asked to resign his
position, but remained a supporter of both Presidents Reagan and Bush. In 1989,
Dart was appointed chair of the President's Committee on the Employment of
People with Disabilities, shifting its focus from its traditional stance of
urging business to "hire the handicapped" to advocating for full civil rights
for people with disabilities.
Dart is best known for his work in passing the Americans with Disabilities Act.
In 1988, he was appointed, along with parents' advocate Elizabeth Boggs, to
chair the Congressional Task Force on the Rights and Empowerment of Americans
with Disabilities. The Darts again toured the country at their own expense,
visiting every state, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the District of Columbia, holding
public forums attended by more than 30,000 people. Everywhere he went, Dart
touted the ADA as "the civil rights act of the future." Dart also met
extensively with members of Congress and staff, as well as President Bush, Vice
President Quayle, and members of the Cabinet. At one point, seeing Dart at a
White House reception, President Bush introduced him as "the ADA man." The ADA
was signed into law on July 26, 1990, an anniversary that is celebrated each
year by "disability pride" events all across the country.
While taking pride in passage of the ADA, Dart was always quick to list all the
others who shared in the struggle: Robert Silverstein and Robert Burgdorf,
Patrisha Wright and Tony Coelho, Fred Fay and Judith Heumann, among many others.
And Dart never wavered in his commitment to disability solidarity, insisting
that all people with disabilities be protected by the law and included in the
coalition to pass it -- including mentally ill "psychiatric survivors" and
people with HIV/AIDS. Dart called this his "politics of inclusion," a companion
to his "politics of principle, solidarity, and love."
After passage of the ADA, Dart threw his energy into the fight for universal
health care, again campaigning across the country, and often speaking from the
same podium as President and Mrs. Clinton. With the defeat of universal health
care, Dart was among the first to identify the coming backlash against
disability rights. He resigned all his positions to become "a full-time citizen
soldier in the trenches of justice." With the conservative Republican victory in
Congress in 1994, followed by calls to amend or even repeal the ADA and the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (or IDEA), Dart, and disability
rights advocates Becky Ogle and Frederick Fay, founded Justice for All, what
Dart called "a SWAT team" to beat back these attacks. Again, Dart was tireless
-- traveling, speaking, testifying, holding conference calls, presiding over
meetings, calling the media on its distortions of the ADA, and flooding the
country with American flag stickers that said, "ADA, IDEA, America Wins." Both
laws were saved.
Dart again placed the credit with "the thousands of grassroots patriots" who
wrote and e-mailed and lobbied. But there can be no doubt that without Dart's
leadership, the outcome might have been entirely different.
In 1996, confronted by a Republican Party calling for "a retreat from Thomas
Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln democracy," Dart campaigned for the re-election of
President Clinton. This was a personally difficult "decision of conscience."
Dart had been a Republican for most of his life, and had organized the
disability constituency campaigns of both Ronald Reagan and George Bush,
campaigning against Clinton in 1992. But in a turnabout that was reported in the
New York Times and the Washington Post, Dart went all out for Clinton, even
speaking at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The Darts yet again
undertook a whirlwind tour of the country, telling people to "get into politics
as if your life depended on it. It does." At his speech the day after the
election, President Clinton publicly thanked Dart for personally campaigning in
all fifty states, and cited his efforts as "one reason we won some of those
states."
Dart suffered a series of heart attacks in late 1997, which curtailed his
ability to travel. He continued, however, to lobby for the rights of people with
disabilities, and attended numerous events, rallies, demonstrations and public
hearings. Toward the end of his life, Dart was hard at work on a political
manifesto that would outline his vision of "the revolution of empowerment." In
its conclusion, he urged his "Beloved colleagues in struggle, listen to the
heart of this old soldier. Our lives, our children's lives, the quality of the
lives of billions in future generations hangs in the balance. I cry out to you
from the depths of my being. Humanity needs you! Lead! Lead! Lead the revolution
of empowerment!"
Today, disabled people across the country and around the world will grieve at
the passing of Justin Dart, Jr. But we will celebrate his love and his
commitment to justice. Please join us at in expressing our condolences to
Yoshiko and her family during this difficult time. Keep in mind, however, that
it was Justin's wish that any service or commemoration be used by activists to
celebrate our movement, and as an opportunity to recommit themselves to "the
revolution of empowerment."
SOURCE The American Association of People with Disabilities
Justin was one of the key disability leaders, considered father of the
Americans with Disability Act, winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the
highest USA civilian award).
Janine has just forwarded the very sad news to us below, from Marcie Roth,
director, National Spinal Cord Injury Association. More information will follow.
I talked to Justin just a few days ago. He told, "I know what people need to do
to really win freedom." I listened intently.
"What is it Justin?" I asked.
He yelled, "Get off our asses and organize!"
Just one week ago, despite extreme health problems, Justin came through for the
psychiatric survivors movement as he has so many, many, many times. He
launched the People's True Freedom Commission.
See his speech here as he asked us to chant, once more: "No Forced Treatment
Ever."
http://www.mindfreedom.org/mindfreedom/bush_c.shtml
Justin always, always began and ended what he said with how much he loved
everyone working and leading for freedom.
Open love was woven throughout whatever Justin said and did.
We love you Justin!
My deepest sympathy, love and support go out to his wife Yoshiko, his family and
everyone who loves Justin.
And if you're not sure what Justin Dart wants you to do now to win freedom,
re-read his quote above.
I send this weeping in joy, grief and solidarity with Justin...
- David Oaks, Director, Support Coalition International
http://www.MindFreedom.org
Justin Dart, true hero, inspiring leader, mentor, dear friend, Presidential
Medal of Freedom recipient, father of the ADA and one of the brightest lights
the 600 million people with disabilities around the world have ever had, died
this morning. I will miss him very much and thought you would want to know of
this huge loss for the disability community and for the community of freedom
fighters everywhere.
More information will undoubtedly be available soon. Please join me in keeping
Yoshiko and the whole Dart family in our thoughts and prayers.
Knowing Justin, he wouldn't want us boo hooing over his death. He would tell us
all in no uncertain terms that we need to redouble our efforts and do whatever
it takes in our fight for freedom. I will miss him, and I will work harder, in
his honor and in his memory.
Marcie Roth
Executive Director
National Spinal Cord Injury Association
"DISABILITY RIGHTS HERO, JUSTIN DART, JR., COMPLETES HIS MISSION"
from Justice for All June 22, 2002
In an uncharacteristically quiet moment, Justin Dart, Jr., died this morning
with his wife and partner, Yoshiko Dart, at his side. Best known as the father
of the Americans with Disabilities Act and often called the Martin Luther King
of the disability civil rights movement, he thought of himself in much more
humble terms - simply as a soldier of justice. After nearly 50 years of advocacy
for the civil rights of oppressed people in America and around the world, Mr.
Dart spent his final days at home completing his manifesto. His tenacious
impatience and unwavering voice of empowerment will continue in the hearts and
minds of all who fight for justice.
"Death is not a tragedy," wrote Mr. Dart before he died. "It is not an evil from
which we must escape. Death is as natural as birth. Like childbirth, death is
often a time of fear and pain, but also of profound beauty, of celebration of
the mystery and majesty which is life pushing its horizons toward oneness with
the truth of Mother Universe. The days of dying carry a special responsibility.
There is a great potential to communicate values in a uniquely powerful way -
the person who dies demonstrating for civil rights.
"I call for solidarity among all who love justice, all who love life, to create
a revolution that will empower every single human being to govern his or her
life, to govern the society and to be fully productive of life quality for self
and for all."
Justin Dart, Jr., August 29, 1930 - June 22, 2002
Justin Dart: "I AM WITH YOU. I LOVE YOU. LEAD ON."
Dearly Beloved:
Listen to the heart of this old soldier. As with all of us the time comes when
body and mind are battered and weary. But I do not go quietly into the night. I
do not give up struggling to be a responsible contributor to the sacred
continuum of human life. I do not give up struggling to overcome my weakness, to
conform my life - and that part of my life called death - to the great values of
the human dream.
Death is not a tragedy. It is not an evil from which we must escape. Death is as
natural as birth. Like childbirth, death is often a time of fear and pain, but
also of profound beauty, of celebration of the mystery and majesty which is life
pushing its horizons toward oneness with the truth of mother universe. The days
of dying carry a special responsibility. There is a great potential to
communicate values in a uniquely powerful way - the person who dies
demonstrating for civil rights.
Let my final actions thunder of love, solidarity, protest - of empowerment.
I adamantly protest the richest culture in the history of the world, a culture
which has the obvious potential to create a golden age of science and democracy
dedicated to maximizing the quality of life of every person, but which still
squanders the majority of its human and physical capital on modern versions of
primitive symbols of power and prestige.
I adamantly protest the richest culture in the history of the world which still
incarcerates millions of humans with and without disabilities in barbaric
institutions, backrooms and worse, windowless cells of oppressive perceptions,
for the lack of the most elementary empowerment supports.
I call for solidarity among all who love justice, all who love life, to create a
revolution that will empower every single human being to govern his or her life,
to govern the society and to be fully productive of life quality for self and
for all.
I do so love all the patriots of this and every nation who have fought and
sacrificed to bring us to the threshold of this beautiful human dream. I do so
love America the beautiful and our wild, creative, beautiful people. I do so
love you, my beautiful colleagues in the disability and civil rights movement.
My relationship with Yoshiko Dart includes, but also transcends, love as the
word is normally defined. She is my wife, my partner, my mentor, my leader and
my inspiration to believe that the human dream can live. She is the greatest
human being I ever known.
Yoshiko, beloved colleagues, I am the luckiest man in the world to have been
associated with you. Thanks to you, I die free. Thanks to you, I die in the joy
of struggle. Thanks to you, I die in the beautiful belief that the revolution of
empowerment will go on. I love you so much. I'm with you always. Lead on! Lead
on!
Justin Dart
Disabilities Advocate Dart Dies
.c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - Justin Dart Jr., an activist who for more than five decades
worked in his wheelchair to champion the cause of people with disabilities, died
Saturday. He was 71.
Dart, whose family said he died in his sleep of natural causes, was regarded
among the fathers of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the landmark 1990
civil rights law for the disabled. In 1998, he was awarded the Presidential
Medal of Freedom by President Clinton.
``He was one of our country's greatest warriors in the fight for civil rights
for people with disabilities,'' said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. ``He was a
friend of mine, and I will miss him very much.''
Born in Chicago in 1930, Dart contracted polio in 1948 and used a wheelchair
since then. He began working for the disabled from that time, when he was a
student at the University of Houston, and went on to become chairman of the
President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities in the Reagan
administration.
That appointment came after Dart quit as commissioner of the Education
Department's rehabilitation agency after he complained in testimony to Congress
about the government's ``paternalistic attitudes about disability.''
In 1990, Dart received the first pen used by former President Bush at the
signing ceremony for the Americans with Disabilities Act.
``He was the Abraham Lincoln of the disability community,'' said Sen. Tom
Harkin, D-Iowa.
Dart founded and was chief executive of Japan Tupperware Inc. His father, the
late Justin Dart, was a California industrialist and close friend of President
Reagan.
Dart is survived by his wife, Yoshiko, and five daughters. His niece, Mari Dart,
said the family plans a private memorial service to be followed by a large
celebration on July 26, the 12th anniversary of the ADA.
This "Mental Health E-News" posting is a service of the New York
Ass'n of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services, a statewide coalition of people
who use and/or provide community mental health services dedicated to improving
services and social conditions for people with psychiatric disabilities by
promoting their recovery, rehabilitation and rights.
To join our list, e-mail us your request and, where appropriate, the name of
your organization to NYAPRS@aol.com.
Save these dates!
September 10 - 13, 2002
NYAPRS 20th Annual Conference Celebration
'Now More Than Ever: Hope, Healing and Recovery'
at the Nevele Grande Resort, Ellenville New York
contact: Mary McLaughlin, NYAPRS
1 Columbia Place Albany, NY 12207
(518) 436-0008; fax: (518) 436-0044
