About Warren Shaw
Photo of smiling white man, age sixties, with shaved head and glasses, standing in front of wall of books.
Warren Shaw was born and raised in the New York City Disability Rights Movement. His parents, Mollie and Julius Shaw, were well-known physically disabled activists who helped to pioneer the movement during the 1960s and 1970s—among other things, they engineered the establishment of what is now known as the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities.
A writer, professor, practicing attorney and activist, Warren is an historian of the New York City Disability Rights Movement.
Warren has presented on the origins and growth of the City’s Disability Rights Movement for Columbia University, for the radio station WBAI (99.5 fm), Long Island University, City University, the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities, the New York City Parks Department, ReelAbilities, and numerous activist organizations, including the Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled.
In 2015, in partnership with the Mayor's Office, Warren curated an exhibit at the Brooklyn Historical Society entitled "Gaining Access: The New York City Disability Rights Movement," the first-ever museum exhibition about this branch of the American Civil Rights movement.
Warren lives in Brooklyn. He is currently working on a book about the history of disability and disability activism in the City of New York. The working title is “Never Stand Alone: Tales of the Ancestors.”
Warren’s life with his activist parents was a microcosm of the political ferment of the Sixties: “At home at night in our rent-controlled apartment,” Warren recalls, “I used to fall asleep to the yelling and arguing of disabled activists plotting revolution in the living room. I went to rallies and protests, saw my parents give speeches, helped them leaflet our neighborhood. I met and got to know all the City’s activists and leaders, not as political figures, but as my family’s friends and colleagues. So once the New York City history bug bit me, while I was in law school, it was inevitable that sooner or later I would turn to putting together the history of the City’s Disability Rights Movement.”
Warren has worked in the field of New York City history for 35 years. He has published hundreds of articles and appeared on dozens of television and radio broadcasts discussing New York City’s political, architectural and cultural history and policy. But his primary concentration has been the City’s disability history.