Movement

As William Roth was taking his first steps, members of his family were caught up in the Nazi Holocaust. At age eight, he began to manifest the symptoms of dystonia, a neurological disease characterized by severe movement disorders. And at age forty-seven, he was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the tonsil, a cancer that would prove as invasive as his genetic disease and as dreadful as his social persecution. This, his memoir, relates the three intertwined narratives and the miraculous success that one man carved from them. Today, at age 65, Roth is more than a survivor. Mobilizing his courage to spearhead the discipline of disability studies, be active in the Disability Rights Movement, influence government policy toward disability, and found the non-profit Center for Computing and Disability, Roth has used his own disability to change the life of disabled people in America.

The late William Roth was on the faculty of the State University of New York, and the author of many other books, including several about the disabled. He lived in Albany, New York.

William Roth
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 200
Bibliographic Info: 20 photos, index
Copyright Date: 2008
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3783-2
Imprint: McFarland

Prologue      1

1. Say “Ahhh,” March 1988      3
2. Escape from Vienna, 1938–1945      5
3. The Cancer All-Stars, March 1988      9
4. Ashes and Dreams, 1938–1945      13
5. Can’t Help Glowing, March 1988      18
6. My Life of Crime, 1945–1950      21
7. Studying the Opposition, March 1988      26
8. The Wonder Years, 1950–1955      31
9. The Killing Details, March 1988      40
10. A Hole in the Head, 1955–1960      47
11. Three Days to Burn, March 1988      56
12. Yale, 1960–1961      59
13. Cancer, Present Tense, March 31, 1988      64
14. Sophomore Drill, 1961–1962      66
15. Slow Burn, April 1988      70
16. Biting the Big Apple, 1963–1964      74
17. What, Me Worry? Spring 1988      81
18. Berkeley: The ’60s      90
19. Warrior, August 1988      98
20. American in Paris, 1966–1967      103
21. Chemical Warfare, Autumn 1988–Spring 1990      111
22. First Person, Political, 1967–1970      115
23. A Radical Reunion, Spring 1989      123
24. A Nice Guy Like Me, 1970–1978      131
25. A Pain in the Neck, June 1989      146
26. Albany, 1978–1988      151
27. Dancing in the Street, June 1989      157
28. After the War, 1989–1990      159
29. Press Pause, 1990–2000      162
30. Return to Dystonia, 2003–2007      172

Index      189