Max Starkloff

Max Starkloff using a bus liftMax Starkloff (September 18, 1937, St. Louis, Missouri – December, 2010) was a disability rights activist. Starkloff became disabled in a car accident in 1959 and subsequently co-founded three organizations.

Personal life In 1959, at the age of 21, Starkloff was involved in a car accident and became a quadriplegic with limited use of his left arm. After the crash, his mother was told he would only live for four more days; however, he survived and was inspired to fight for disability rights. In 2007, he fell off of his wheelchair and punctured a lung, forcing him to use a ventilator for the remainder of his life. He fought for the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which passed in 1990. Starkloff sought to make the world more accessible for the disabled; in addition to the city sidewalks, he was also involved in making the St. Louis Zoo create accessible facilities.

He co-founded three organizations: Paraquad, an independent living center, in 1970, then one of the first ten such federally funded centers; National Council on Independent Living, in 1983 (with Marca Bristo and Charlie Carr); Starkloff Disability Institute, co-founded with Colleen, his wife, in 2003.