Hugh Gallagher (advocate)
Hugh Gallagher was an author and international disability advocate. Born in Palo Alto, California, he grew up in Chicago, New York City and Washington, D.C.
Education
He contracted polio in 1952 at age 19 while studying at Haverford College. He drafted the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968, which required that buildings built with federal funds be made accessible to all; it eventually was enacted into law.In 1956, he graduated from what is now Claremont McKenna College in California and then went on a Marshall scholarship to Oxford University, where he received the equivalent of a master's degree in political science, philosophy and economics. Bob Dole wrote, "Hugh's most outstanding contribution to the quality of life of people with disabilities was to successfully place disability on the agenda of the Congress for the first time."