"Max Starkloff and the Fight for Disability Rights" Meet the Authors at Left Bank Books on February 17

“Max Starkloff and the Fight for Disability Rights” Meet the Authors at Left Bank Books on February 17

Authors Charlie Claggett, Jr. and Richard H. Weiss will read excerpts, answer questions and sign copies of the new book “Max Starkloff and the Fight for Disability Rights” on Tuesday, February 17, at 7 p.m. at Left Bank Books, 399 North Euclid in St. Louis’ Central West End.

Max J. Starkloff (1937-2010) worked all his adult life to change societal attitudes about people with disabilities. His legacy for working to change societal attitudes is legendary.

At age 21, Starkloff was in a car accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down. Doctors doubted that he would live yet he survived and spent 12 years in a nursing home where he met his future wife, a physical therapist named Colleen Kelly. Starkloff moved out of the nursing home in 1975 to live with Colleen and their children in St. Louis’ Central West End.

Starkloff’s trailblazing work is respected by advocates for people with disabilities and civil rights leaders around the world. A few of Starkloff’s extraordinary accomplishments before his death include:

· Securing barrier-free legislation for local and state curb cuts

· Enabling disabled parking legislation

· Successfully lobbying for disabled access to public building and schools

· Gaining local government commitments to equip new buses with wheelchair lifts

· Founding the St. Louis Chapter of the National Paraplegia Foundation

· Lobbying to help ensure passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act

· Working to ensure that St. Louis’ new light rail system offered total accessibility

· Serving on many advisory boards and boards of directors of influential business, healthcare and government organizations

Max Starkloff and the Fight for Disability Rights tells the powerful story of Starkloff’s life and legacy, and his work that is carried on today at the not-for-profit Starkloff Disability Institute. http://starkloff.org.

***