by: Steven E. Brown, Fall 1998 As the founder of Institute on
Disability Culture (IDC), Steven E. Brown earned a doctorate in
history from the University of Oklahoma. He directed an
independent living center in Oklahoma, organized numerous
community coalitions, and served as a Training Director at the
World Institute on Disability. He founded the not-for-profit
Institute on Disability Culture, with his wife Lillian Gonzales
Brown, in 1994. Since then he has become an internationally
sought speaker, trainer, and writer. When I first became
involved in the disability rights movement in the U.S. in the
early 1980s, independent living centers were sometimes
criticized for catering to the needs of people with mobility
impairments, especially those who used wheelchairs. There was
some truth to this allegation. After all, it seemed that across
the U.S. facilities and services and organizations already
existed for those who were deaf or blind or had a developmental
disability. If you were a wheelchair user where did