Michael Williams was highly involved in the disability rights movement and a beloved member of Berkeley’s disabled community during the 1970s-1980s. Williams grew up in Pasadena and was the first student with a disability to attend his high school and went on to graduate with a Bachelor’s from Occidental College in 1961, then received a Master’s degree in Library and Information Studies from UC Berkeley in the 1980s. Professionally, he devoted his career towards working with enhancing augmented and alternative communications to aid written and verbal communication for people with disabilities.

Here, Williams is captured by local Berkeley photographer, Ken Okuno, in a moment of utter glee and delight.