Donald Broderick
In this image: Photograph of white male, mid-thirties, in a manual wheelchair, wearing dark suit and bright tie.
Among Richard Match’s most important recruits, Donald Broderick, like Match, was a Brooklynite who became a quadriplegic because of a broken neck, but Broderick sustained his injury in the Navy rather than in high school as Match did. By the early 1960s Broderick had managed to leave the medical environment, and returned to life with his wife and family. He also began attending the swim nights at the Great Neck pool that Richard Match had gotten started. Match showed the way forward, and Don’s career as an activist shot up like a rocket.
In 1963, Broderick abruptly joined the Eastern Paralyzed Veterans’ Association, or EPVA, and he quickly became very influential in it--among other things, penning a regular column in its newsletter. Broderick brought EPVA into regular participation in and reportage on a new fight against architectural barriers among the general society—the first time that EPVA looked beyond its vets-only sphere. He went on to serve for many years as president of the Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), and drew national attention to the poor quality of veterans’ medical care through a blockbuster expose in Life magazine and a followup national appearance on the Today show.
He was a co-founder of the Architectural Barriers Committee, and was particularly involved in its Lincoln Center initiative. Later in life he served on President Jimmy Carter’s Advisory Committee for National Health Insurance Issues, and was a principal founder of the Maryland Wheelchair Games, which began in 1982.
by Warren Shaw
