Douglas A. Martin, a leading pioneer of the disability rights and independent living movements, died Friday, Jan. 3. He was 55 years old.

Martin, who earned a doctorate in urban planning at UCLA, advocated tirelessly for the rights of people with disabilities. During his tenure, UCLA added access ramps, handrails and curb ramps in inaccessible areas; improved accommodations for students with learning disabilities; and took part in countless other efforts that improved access for people with disabilities.

“There are few people that have left their mark in this world like Doug Martin has,� said Kathy Molini, director of the UCLA Office for Students with Disabilities. “He did everything from helping to author landmark disability law to making sure a soap dispenser was placed at just the right height to meet code.�

“He will be missed, but remembered by all he came in contact with and the people who will continue to benefit from his accomplishments,� Molini said.

Jayne Spencer, chairperson of the UCLA Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Disability and a lecturer in history and Latin American Studies, said, “Doug followed his mandate to carry out the letter of the law, but he had the ability to help people see the spirit of the law and create access. It was not only physical access but also ideological, policy, personal and social access.�

When Spencer studied in Venezuela and told Martin about a social security law that prohibited Americans who received disability benefits from studying abroad for more than 30 days, they worked to get the law changed for students.

“He was tireless in his efforts to achieve an equal playing field,� she said.

Martin, a Nebraska native, was a wheelchair-user who contracted polio at the age of 5. He initially planned to enroll at the University of Nebraska. However, university officials were taken aback to learn of his disability when he arrived for orientation. He was subsequently denied admission because he failed the required physical examination. He decided to pursue his education at UCLA and dedicate his life to improving the rights of people with disabilities.

“I made a vow then and there that I would pursue my education and use it to make sure this would not happen to anyone else,� he told the UCLA Today faculty and staff newspaper in 1997.

Martin worked as a state buildings standards commissioner and also was Southern California chairperson of Californians for Strong Access in the 1970s. He was instrumental in creating California’s seminal accessibility requirements and developing and promulgating Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

In 1975 he co-founded and was executive director of the Westside Center for Independent Living, which is recognized as one of the top consumer-operated, independent living programs in the country.

In 1971 Martin was the first person with a significant disability to be named a UCLA Chancellor’s Fellow, and in 1972 the first to be named a UCLA Chancellor’s Teaching Assistant.

Martin co-founded the UCLA Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Disability in 1983. He worked as Special Assistant to the UCLA Chancellor from 1989 to 2002 and coordinated campus compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504.

Martin also had an enormous impact on defining the direction of national disability benefits policy. He was the driving force to abolish work penalties for people with disabilities in Social Security disability programs. The changes allowed hundreds of thousands of recipients to engage in employment. As a benefits recipient, Martin said he knew the tremendous injustice created by work penalties built into those programs. Disabled people who worked lost medical coverage, attendant services and subsistence level cash payments. He worked to abolish work penalties in the programs. He made it possible for recipients to go from welfare to work.

Sen. Barbara Boxer has said of him: “Dr. Martin is a sterling example of a person who has made a tremendous impact on his community both as a professional and as a leader.�

Martin served on numerous committees and panels including Boxer’s Central District Judicial Appointment Advisory Committee, the National Academy of Social Insurance and the Advisory Committee for the National Council on Disability.

He also received many awards including the President’s Committee’s Distinguished Service Award in 1990 and the Governor’s Trophy in 1985 for having served on the California Governor’s Committee for Employment of Disabled Persons.

Martin is survived by his wife, RaeLynne, and mother, Julia. A memorial service and campus commemoration are pending, and his family and colleagues also plan to establish a scholarship for students with disabilities in his honor.