1952

Very few persons are privileged personally to know someone who has made his own positive impact upon the lives of millions of people around the world. But all Dartmouth 52s know such a person. His name is Alan Reich, and he has turned his own adversity into a plat-form for helping great numbers of people with disabilities (estimated at 10 percent of the worlds population) to attain fuller and more equal participation in the life of their nations.

A diving accident in 1962 put Al into a wheelchair. He returned to work (Polaroid) for several years but was then recruited by the U.S. State Department as a deputy assistant secretary of state. Al's job took him all over the world and in the course of this he saw what other nations were doing, or mostly not doing, to help their citizens with disabilities. Deciding that this problem simply had to be addressed on an international basis, Al became the driving force in persuading the United Nations to declare 1981 as the International Year of Disabled Persons and to pass a resolution establishing a program of action concerning people with disabilities. Speaking on behalf of the resolution, Al became the first person ever to address the UN general assembly from a wheelchair.

The problem was that almost no nation did anything to implement the UN resolution. So the next year Al founded the World Committee on Disability and its companion domestic group, the National Organization on Disability (NOD). Al is the chairman, president and moving spirit of these non-government, privately funded organizations and to say that they have done important work throughout the world is a massive understatement. To find out what they do and the enormous range of their activities you simply have to open on www.nod.org. Much more than encouraging ramp access to buildings, NOD acts as an advocacy organization that keeps a spotlight constantly on the needs of persons with disabilities.

Al has tapped into a number of Dartmouth people for assistance. Doc Dey directs the NOD Start on Success program. John Rosenwald was a pioneer financial supporter and serves on the board, as does Ken Roman. Brock Brower '53 continuously contributes wordsmithing skills.

On September 16 a covey of '52s, along with many hundreds of other persons, were present at the United Nations in New York to witness the annual presentation of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt International Disability Award to a nation selected by Al and other sponsors for its dedication to the improvement of the lives of its citizens with disabilities. This year it was Ecuador that was honored. Its president, Gustavo Noboa Bejarano, came specially to New York to receive this honor. A number of interested individuals lend significant support to the work of the NOD and its international companion organization. President George H.W. Bush is honorary chairman. Christopher Reeve is vice chairman. But the person who coalesces everything into a worldwide force far exceeding its actual size is Alan Reich. He never ceases and he just never gives up. Ask Al's wife, Gay, when he plans to retire and she just laughs at the thought.

Nobody in our class ever doubted that Al would become a great success. But what he has done to improve the lives of millions of persons surely constitutes a very remarkable achievement by a very remarkable guy, whom we are all proud to know.

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