In COVID-19 Crisis, Instructor Fights for People With Disabilities

The Rutgers University instructor, a quadriplegic paralyzed from the chest down, could see that the pandemic was taking a disproportionate toll on marginalized communities, including people with disabilities.
“Every day I’m watching the news and seeing people being dragged out of nursing homes in body bags,” says Robles, a teaching instructor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health in the School of Arts and Sciences. “This isn’t something where I can just sit back and say maybe things will get better.”
Robles, in fact, has never been one to just wait for things to get better.
As a Rutgers undergraduate in the 1980s, he was a self-described “pain in the neck” to university officials, forming the Handicapable student group to demand a more accessible campus. Since joining the faculty in 2013, he has been a pioneering teacher, introducing the first undergraduate course to explore the lived experience of people with disabilities.  Click here for the full Rutgers Today article.