In Memory of Tim Barbato – a Young Disability Advocate

I would like to dedicate this post in memory of a young disability advocate named Tim Barbato. I landed on Tim’s blog when I was doing some research on experiences of people with a disability attending college. Tim has been a quadriplegic since he was born and was adopted shortly after birth. Doctors had told his parents that he would never be able to sit or talk or even be able to breathe without the help of a ventilator. But Tim had beaten all odds and by the time he was three years old, he was already able to read. Tim was home schooled for a while, but he went to elementary and high school just like anyone else. He became a disability advocate at a very young age and his severe disability didn’t stop him from participating in various activities at school.

Tim wanted to go to college to learn how to be a social worker so he would be able to help others be able to help themselves. During his senior year in high school he started checking out colleges and wrote in his blog in a lot of detail about the accessibility issues he ran or did not ran into. Tim wanted to live on-campus and be as independent as possible while attending college. I am very touched by Tim’s ambitions and his positive outlook on life despite of his severe disability. I encourage anyone with a physical disability who is thinking about attending college to check out Tim’s blog. I was looking forward to read some more of Tim’s experiences in the future but found myself devastated instead when I read a note posted at the bottom of his last post by his school aide conveying the sad news that Tim had become ill with pneumonia last November and had passed away a few weeks later. It is really a shame that this had to happen because I am sure that Tim would have continued to make a difference in this world considering what he had been able to accomplish already at such a young age.

Tim has been in my thoughts ever since I read his blog and my only solace is the thought that such a great young man can only have ended up in a happier place.

Feel free to read more about Tim’s inspiring and touching story here.