Repository:
Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies
Abstract: Roderick L. (RL) Grubbs (1959-2016) was an advocate for assistive technology, a disability rights activist, and a specialist in the Georgia Department of Community Health. His papers include subject files on a variety of disability-related topics and organizations and material related to Money Follows the Person, a state program.
Roderick Lynn Grubbs was born in 1959 in Lawrence, Kansas, to Dr. William and Ruth Grubbs. In 1979, Grubbs sustained spinal injuries in a car accident resulting in paraplegia. Known as "Rick" by his family and professionally as "RL," Grubbs was an advocate for assistive technology, a disability rights activist, and a specialist in the Georgia Department of Community Health.
As a lifelong student, Grubbs received his B.A. in Music and an M. Ed. in Language, Literacy, and Linguistics, both from Texas Tech University, and an M.A. in Training and Learning Technologies from the University of New Mexico, and undertook postgraduate work in Cultural Anthropology at SUNY Buffalo and Industrial Design at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Much of his academic and professional work focused on assistive technology (AT). He spoke and presented widely on the subject at conferences and meetings of professional organizations, notably the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA) and the National Council on Independent Living.
Throughout his career, Grubbs held numerous positions in project management, research, instruction, and advocacy in the field of assistive technology. Since 2007, he had served as a health insurance specialist in the Medicaid Policy Division of the Georgia Department of Community Health. During that time, Grubbs worked on Georgia's "Money Follows the Person" initiative, which allows people in inpatient facilities who are youth with mental illness, elderly, or have physical, intellectual or developmental disabilities to move out and receive services to live in their own homes and communities. In this role, he was responsible for leading workshops and demonstrations on how individuals can effectively navigate and use Medicaid to take advantage of this program.
Grubbs died on January 12, 2016, in Atlanta, Georgia, at the age of 57.
The Roderick L. (RL) Grubbs Papers document Grubbs's interest and work in assistive technology, disability rights and advocacy, and independent living programs. His papers include subject files on a variety of disability-related topics and organizations and material related to Money Follows the Person, a state assistance program. Included are correspondence, clippings, reports, brochures, technical manuals, hand-written notes, photographs, training guides, procedures manuals, presentations, and publications.
Roderick L. (RL) Grubbs Papers, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Georgia, 30602-1641.
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