Access Insights · Team
Lex Frieden
Senior Advisor
Lex is widely regarded as an architect of the Americans with Disabilities Act. A founder of the independent living movement, founder of the Independent Living Research Utilization (ILRU) program at TIRR Memorial Hermann, and Professor of Biomedical Informatics and of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, with more than four decades advancing opportunities for people with disabilities.
1990
the ADA, which he was instrumental in conceiving and drafting, becomes law
40+
years advancing opportunities for people with disabilities
90
countries in Rehabilitation International, the federation he led as president
2
honorary doctorates, National University of Ireland and Princeton University
About
Disability rights belong at the center of the American civil rights landscape.
Lex is Professor of Biomedical Informatics and Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and Adjunct Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine. He founded and directs ILRU, the Independent Living Research Utilization program at TIRR Memorial Hermann in Houston, a research, training, and technical assistance program on independent living for people with disabilities and seniors. He earned degrees from the University of Tulsa, where he has been honored as a Distinguished Alumnus, and the University of Houston, and holds honorary doctorates from the National University of Ireland and Princeton University.
From 1984 to 1988, as executive director of the National Council on the Handicapped, now the National Council on Disability, he was instrumental in conceiving and drafting the Americans with Disabilities Act. In 2002 he returned to the council as its chairperson, appointed by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on July 26, twelve years to the day after the ADA was signed, and served through 2006, advising the President and Congress on disability policy. His leadership helped transform disability rights into a major force within the American civil rights landscape.
A quadriplegic due to spinal cord injury, Lex has worked in the independent living movement since the early 1970s, helping organize the American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities, the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities, and the Houston Coalition for Barrier Free Living, and publishing several books and papers on independent living. At Access Insights he is the compass: more than four decades of research, policy, and advocacy, applied to what we study and why.
Selected work
Policy with people inside it.
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The Americans with Disabilities Act
National Council on the Handicapped · executive director, 1984 to 1988
Instrumental in conceiving and drafting the ADA, the landmark civil rights law for people with disabilities, signed on July 26, 1990. Widely regarded as an ADA architect.
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The Independent Living Movement
Since the early 1970s
A founder of the movement by disabled people for programs run by disabled people. Helped organize the American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities, the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities, and the Houston Coalition for Barrier Free Living.
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Independent Living Research Utilization
TIRR Memorial Hermann · founder and director
Founded and directs ILRU, a research, training, and technical assistance program on independent living serving people with disabilities and seniors nationwide.
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National Council on Disability
Washington · chairperson, 2002 to 2006
Appointed by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on July 26, 2002 to chair the independent federal agency that makes disability policy recommendations to the President and Congress.
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International Disability Rights
Rehabilitation International · United Nations · OECD
President of Rehabilitation International, a federation of 200 organizations in 90 countries. Served an eight year term on the United Nations Panel of Experts on the Standard Rules for Disability, and represented the United States on a disability and employment panel at the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) in Paris.
Appointments and honors
Service across government, academia, and the world.
- Professor of Biomedical Informatics and of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston; adjunct professor, Baylor College of Medicine.
- Founder and director, ILRU at TIRR Memorial Hermann.
- Consultant panel member, U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology (1976 to 1978); prepared the housing background paper for the 1977 White House Conference on Handicapped Individuals.
- Past chairman, American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD).
- Two Presidential Citations for his work in the field of disability.
- Henry B. Betts Award (1998), for efforts that significantly improve the quality of life for people with disabilities.
- One of America's Ten Outstanding Young Men, U.S. Jaycees (1983).
- Honorary doctorates from the National University of Ireland and Princeton University; Distinguished Alumnus, University of Tulsa.
Why it matters here: Access Insights turns lived experience into evidence, and evidence into change. Lex wrote that playbook: the movement he has helped lead since the early 1970s and the law he helped conceive both began with disabled people documenting their own lives.
