Michigan disability advocate dies at 84

In 2003, Forrest Fynewever'said in an interview that:

"I used to be told that there is no sense in being given a college education because no one hires crippled kids, crippled people. Well, I fooled them. And they may have been right at the time. We had overcompensated for our disabilities, and let people know that we were people. I am a person who happens to have a disability, I am not a disabled person. ... I use a wheelchair, I occupy a wheelchair, but I am not bound to it."

Fynewever, who had polio since the age of 2, became an engineer, married and raised four children. He said his advocacy was successful because he was persistent. He grew to believe that "people with disabilities were tolerated, rather than accepted" and welcomed people approaching him.

The retired engineer worked to improve access to public transportation and parks, for curb cuts, electric doors in buildings, and for access in city hall. He died Friday at the age of 84.