Roland "Commander" Sykes
June 1st, 1953 - March 10th, 2008
Wizard, Bit Twiddler, Philosopher, Teacher, and most fun of
all...
The Bus Driver for ADAPT
From: Yoshiko Dart
We join our colleagues in justice across the USA in celebrating the life of an incredible human being, Roland Sykes.
Justin and I had known and worked with Roland since he was active in the state of Oklahoma in early 1980s. But there is one particular story I would like to mention here just to illustrate one aspect of his character:
Back in late fall of 2001 Roland was hospitalized at the NRH in DC due to his very serious medical condition for a few months. Justin and I visited him occasionally at his hospital room and listened to his plan of an accessible bus (his home) tour around the country promoting and urging the grassroots to get organized in the disability rights advocacy. Justin happened to share the same dream at the time; they got very excited discussing it.
Thanks to Dr. Halstead and his NRH team, Roland got completely well and went home. A few months later Justin passed away. Roland went ahead and got his big bus project completed and running; actually became the Driver; and started his tour without a big announcement
