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Another Turn of the Wheel
A project of Independent Living Resources, a non-profit organization advocating for rights, empowerment and independent living since 1980.

Essays, Images and Life-Stories
Chronicling the Movement for

Disability Rights & Independent Living
Chris Palames headshot
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Welcome to Another Turn of the Wheel

This site presents a collection of stories, podcasts, interviews and essays that chronicle the disability rights movement and the experience of living with a disability in an era of great change.

-- Chris Palames

“The essence of non-violent revolution is in the sharing of lives.”
Real-life stories, told in the words of the men and women who have lived them are a way of building what Dr. King called “the beloved community.”

I have been collecting the stories on this site for a long time. Some began as conversations with friends; others as oral history interviews recorded and transcribed by others – some are a mix of both.

For a half-century people with disabilities have been coming out of the Shadow-Lands; out of nursing homes and institutions, out of back bedrooms, out of the margins, and the forgotten places.
Stories told from the point of view of people with disabilities are stories worth telling! They are compelling and powerful, not because living with a disability is heroic, but because the simplest acts of everyday living can no longer be taken for granted.

Disability is an inescapable and inevitable part of the human condition! And like all human experience, the experience of disability is varied, dynamic and ever changing.

“When others hope I despair, when others despair I hope – the wheel turns!” Nikos Kazantzakis

A portrait of the early years of the godfather of the independent living movement before he became a legend and a star.
Ed Roberts headshot with ventilator

Headshot of Jim Gleich on telephone
Jim Gleich
1942-2010


A sketch on the life and times of a great advocate for disability and human rights.
Mary Lou Breslin

Follow our featured story and podcast each month.
Photograph of Randy Ruland


President George Bush signing the ADA

Signing of the ADA