February 8, 2001

"The Right to Die - A Disabilities Issue," is the topic of the 2001 Bartlett Lecture Series speaker. Hugh Gallagher's free, public presentation begins at 7 p.m. in Egan Library on the UAS campus February 16. An interpreter will be present.

Gallagher, who served on Alaska Senator Bob Bartlett's staff, is a disability rights activist, scholar, and writer. A polio quadriplegic since 1952, he has fought for the civil rights of disabled people for close to 40 years. His current concentration involves issues of medical ethics as they relate to disability rights.

The Bartlett Lecture Series is sponsored by the University of Alaska to bring distinguished speakers to UA campuses and their communities.

In the 1960s and 1970s Gallagher was responsible for making the Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress, National and Dulles Airports accessible to disabled people. Gallagher conceived the idea and drafted the language of what became the National Architectural Barriers Act of 1968, the first civil rights legislation for disabled people. He has received two lifetime achievement awards in the struggle for disability rights: 1995 Betts Award and 1999 Chicago's Christmann Award.

Gallagher is the author of several books, the first, "Advise and Obstruct: The Role of the United States Senate in Foreign Policy Decisions" (1969) was a Pulitzer Prize nominee. He has written articles for the New York Times, Washington Post, and People magazine. He has appeared on National Public Radio, The Today Show, and C-SPAN. He was featured in the PBS American Experience Documentary, "FDR, A Biography" (1994), "A Paralyzing Fear (1998) and "The Homes of FDR" (1999).