Kickoff Event for 25th Anniversary of the Completion of the FDR Memorial and FDR Wheelchair Statue
The FDR Memorial Legacy Committee on March 31, 2026 sponsored at American University’s Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., a 25th anniversary celebration and panel presentation on the fight for the FDR Memorial’s portrayal of the 32nd president of the United States in a wheelchair. The presentation, Disability Representation in America, FDR, the Fight for the Wheelchair Statue, and the Politics of Commemoration, featured a screening of a 20 minute documentary, FDR: Great Abilities.
View the event by clicking HERE
Click here to view the transcript.
Event summary:
Opening from Helena Berger, Chair of the Board of Directors for the FDR Memorial Legacy Committee and a proud alum of AU’s School of Public Affairs (BS from SGPA, School of Government and Public Affairs, now SPA, in 1981).
The FDR Committee is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect, preserve, and promote the Franklin Delano Roosevelt presidential memorial, located not too far from this campus.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the completion of the FDR Memorial with the addition of the FDR wheelchair statue. Tonight you will learn about the fight for the statue that forever changed how FDR is remembered, and rightly shows that leadership and greatness can, and does look like, a person with a disability.
Followed by Dr. Nkenge Friday, Vice President of Inclusive Excellence, American University.
I want to welcome everyone on behalf of AU and AU’s 250 Plus Initiative. I was a former presidential scholar and I do have an affinity for Eleanor Roosevelt in particular. To come to AU at a time of significant challenges to our nation truly is a monumental experience for our office and AU.
We gather to celebrate a milestone in disability representation and inclusive commemoration. The wheelchair statue stands not only as a tribute to President Roosevelt but as a powerful symbol of recognition, dignity and the ongoing fight for visibility. Its presence reminds us that history must include the stories and experiences of all Americans.
Followed by Mary Dolan, Co-founder and executive director of the FDR Memorial Legacy Committee and AU graduate from School of International Service, BA, 1990.
The FDR Memorial is operated by the National Park Service and the Park Service depends on private support to help preserve our nation’s cultural and environmental resources. That is where we come in because as good as the Park Service is, they can’t do it all.
Many of the people who fought for the statue are the same people who secured the wins that gave us the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehab Act and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. If you wonder why you were able to enter an accessible building today, or get accommodations in your recent exams, or had an IEP or 504 while growing up, many of the people who were part of this campaign made that happen. They saw the fight for the FDR statue as an extension of the overall fight for disabled people to take their rightful place in America. We as a society owe them a great debt.
Watch FDR: Great Abilities Film
The Panel:
Moderator – Dr. Max Friedman, Chair of AU History Department. An expert in 20th Century history and international relations;
There is a myth out there that refuses to die. The myth says that Roosevelt was ashamed of his disability. That myth is worth less than ten cents.
He has been on the dime since 1946. It was chosen to honor his leadership in the March of Dimes. The organization was founded to raise money for research into polio. The organization's name came from asking Americans to send a dime to the White House. Moreover, in every year of his presidency, FDR helped organize events, his birthday balls for polio research. Through his efforts and the organization’s, this was the source for the funding that allowed Dr. Jonas Salk to ultimately come up with a vaccine that eliminated one of the most feared diseases in America.
Roosevelt wanted to manage the narrative of his disability. He did not want to convey weakness at a time of great struggle in America.
Comments from Panelists:
Jim Dickson – led grassroots campaign for FDR wheelchair statue; Co-Founder, FDR Memorial Legacy Committee; and retired Vice President, American Association of People with Disabilities
When disability groups would come to town (the Capitol) to talk to staff about the Memorial … every time they slammed the door. We'd have to slip notes under the door.
Nila Morton, LMSW – Narrator of the documentary short FDR: Great Abilities, Youth Coordinator for Advocates for Justice and Education, disability activist, and social worker licensed in Maryland
My mother told me about FDR, that he was in a wheelchair. Yes, you are disabled, there are going to be challenges, you are going to fail a lot of times. But it is okay. It only means that you have to keep trying.
People like FDR found different ways to make it work. FDR just needed to find a way to be president with a disability. Disability doesn’t mean everything is impossible.
Katherine Greenstein, MA — AU Public History Alumna, National Park Service AmeriCorps Member
FDR wanted his memorial to be small, spare, simple, and about the size of his desk. There is a plaque outside the original memorial in DC that has this quote. It’s a white marble block with his birthdate, death date and dates of his presidency and his name. That stone is there to remind people of who he was, to reflect his respect for the founding documents of the country.
In contrast to the original Memorial, people interested in the Tidal Basin area immediately after the original memorial was dedicated in the 1960s -- wanted to create the larger memorial that we now love. It pulls away from his wishes but that is the nature of memorialization.
Dr. Mary Ellen Curtin, Professor, American Studies, American University
Came to disability political strategy through researching Barbara Jordan, the first black woman in the South to be elected to Congress. She had to negotiate her disability and control the narrative. She didn’t want to be undermined by any suggestion of weakness.
The struggle for positive perceptions of people with disabilities continues.
For further information, contact: Jack Dolan, JDolan730@gmail.com or call or text: 703-217-7154