Dennis Schreiber didn't let blindness, deafness and a wheelchair deter him in his fight for the rights of the disabled.
In several instances in the 1980s, Mr. Schreiber chained himself to Chicago Transit Authority buses on State Street to bring attention to the lack of accessibility, longtime friends recalled.
"There's a word that you should use: tenacious," said Jim Charlton, a longtime friend and fellow activist.
Mr. Schreiber, 71, died Wednesday, Aug. 24, at Seasons Hospice in Chicago after suffering a heart attack, said his wife, Jackie.
Mr. Schreiber was born in Washburn, N.D., and his family moved to Chicago when he was a boy. When he was 3, Mr. Schreiber's parents learned their son would eventually lose his sight. He had Refsum disease, a rare genetic disorder that over time took his sight, hearing and mobility, his wife said.
"A lot of people they're going through some kind of trauma — when you're losing sight, hearing, (your) sense of balance — that could be pretty overpowering and perhaps depressing," said James Kesteloot, former president of the Chicago Lighthouse for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired. "He was adjusted to his loss of sight and his loss of hearing, and he retained a fantastic attitude, sense of humor and dedication to making things better for people with disabilities."
It was Mr. Schreiber's own experiences that led him to be a passionate advocate for those treated unjustly. After getting his start in civil rights fighting for open housing, Mr. Schreiber began focusing on the rights of those with disabilities.
The longtime Archer Heights resident is considered an early crusader for the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, his friends and wife said. In 1990, he attended the signing of the measure into law.
"Because of the discrimination he felt, he had to fight for himself and for everybody else," his wife said.
In 1988, during a Chicago City Council committee hearing about a proposed city ordinance that beefed up prohibitions on discrimination, Mr. Schreiber told aldermen he had been denied jobs, apartments and service in restaurants because of his disabilities.
"I don't want disabled people who are coming up to go through what I went through. I want the protection of law," Mr. Schreiber was quoted in a Tribune article.
"The vision was justice," said John Casey, a longtime friend and former president of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago and former secretary general of the World Alliance of YMCAs. "People deserved to be treated with justice. Whether they were disabled people, minority people, poor people — his quest in life was justice."
In his advocacy work and with the many groups he worked with, Mr. Schreiber was known as a relentless fundraiser and recruiter.
"He would call and call" until the person would donate time or money to the cause, said Charlton, a co-founder of Access Living.
Mr. Schreiber also taught many people how to communicate with a deaf and blind person.
"With someone who is just deaf, you see it and you sign back," Kesteloot said. "With a person who is deaf and blind, he has to feel the sign language."
People would finger-spell into Mr. Schreiber's palm to hold a conversation with him.
At his side was his wife of 42 years, helping him as he conversed with people in person and over the phone.
"His wife was his eyes and ears. But he knew everything that was going on," Casey said.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Schreiber is survived by a son, Daniel, and a daughter, Annemarie.
Services were held.
#Source: Chicago Tribune By Becky Schlikerman, September 26, 2011
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-obit-schreiber-0926-20110926,0,5173776.story
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