Ervin, Mike

Chicago disability activist, freelance journalist, and playwright.

Mike Ervin was born on an army base in West Germany in 1956. He was raised on the southwest side of the city and, because of his muscular dystrophy, was educated at the Illinois Children's Hospital-School. He then went on to the University of Southern Illinois from which he graduated with a journalism degree in 1978. Ervin's first job was writing obituaries for the Daily Southtown newspaper. From that position he continued writing, mostly freelance, articles in newspapers, magazines, and newsletters - reaching a grand total of more than 1,000 articles in over 30 publications by the early 2000s. He also led or participated in numerous activities designed to call attention to the public problems, such as access to buildings and public transportation, of the disabled. Among the many persons he met in his crusades and activities was an artist, Anna Stonum, who had a degenerative nerve disorder and used a wheelchair. They were married in 1978. She died in 1999. Ervin's writing career encompasses not only newspaper and magazine articles, but also some poetry and a number of published and performed plays. These include "The Plucky and Spunky Show" and "The History of Bowling." Ervin's plays have been described as darkly humorous, centering as they do on the exasperations, misunderstandings, humiliations, foibles, and funny incidents in the lives of disabled (or wheelchair - Mike's preferred term) persons.