Uploaded March 2013 | Updated September 2026, 8 hours ago
Coming to Terms
Documentary, 1990, running time: 57 minutes)
History and biography combine in this profile of Hugh Gallagher, who was paralyzed by polio at the age of 19 and went on to champion the rights of people with disabilities. Gallagher had a successful career on Capitol Hill and in the White House where he was a pivotal figure in the passage of the 1968 Architectural Barriers Act, a watershed piece of legislation that helped inaugurate the disability rights movement. In 1974, Hugh Gallagher experienced a crisis in values and left the nation's capitol to come to terms with his own disability. He had to determine how President Franklin Roosevelt—his childhood role model--was so successful in managing his own paralysis.
Coming to Terms
Documentary, 1990, running time: 57 minutes)
History and biography combine in this profile of Hugh Gallagher, who was paralyzed by polio at the age of 19 and went on to champion the rights of people with disabilities. Gallagher had a successful career on Capitol Hill and in the White House where he was a pivotal figure in the passage of the 1968 Architectural Barriers Act, a watershed piece of legislation that helped inaugurate the disability rights movement. In 1974, Hugh Gallagher experienced a crisis in values and left the nation's capitol to come to terms with his own disability. He had to determine how President Franklin Roosevelt—his childhood role model--was so successful in managing his own paralysis.










