Noticed!

I'm very excited! My other blog, www.ustooplease.com, has been noticed by one of my town's local TV news station, and I have been asked to be a regular contributor to their community news section!

Of course, there is no compensation involved other than seeing my name as a byline, but still it's very exciting.

Here's my first article (which was also posted on www.ustooplease.com):

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts - Accessibility Review

We Proclaim...

Please take a moment to read the piece below, and then visit the ADAPT blog, Defending Our Freedom. Also, at the end of this piece is a short video about ADAPT.

A DISABLED MANIFESTO
By John R. Woodward, M.S.W. Center for Independent Living of North Florida, Inc

We proclaim that we are born free and equal human beings; that our disabilities are limitations only, and that our identity does not derive from being disabled.

We proclaim that we have the same value as people who are not disabled, and we reject any scheme of labeling or classifying us that encourages people to think of us as having diminished value.

We reject the idea that institutions must be created to"care" for us, and proclaim that these institutions have been used to "manage" us in ways that non-disabled people are not expected to accept. We particularly denounce institutions whose purpose is to punish us for being disabled, or to confine us for the convenience of others.

We reject the notion that we need "experts," to tell ushow to live, especially experts from the able-bodied world. We are not diagnoses in need of a cure or cases to be closed. We are human, with human dreams and ambitions.

We deny that images of disability are appropriatemetaphors for incompetence, stupidity, ugliness or weakness.

We are aware that as people with disabilities, we have been considered objects of charity and we have been considered commodities. We are neither. We reject charitable enterprises that exploit our lifestyle to titillate others, and which propose to establish the rules by which we must live without our participation. We also reject businesses that use us as "warm bodies" to provide a passive market for their services, again laying down rules by which we must live for their profit. We recognize that the lines between charities and businesses are blurred in the disability industry, and we do not accept services from either if their essential function is to exploit us.

We assert our rights of self-determination in the face ofrules, eligibility criteria, regulations, customs, laws or other barriers, and we pledge not to allow any authority or institution to deprive us of our freedom of choice.

Finally, we assert that any service we need, from specialized teaching to personal care, can be provided to us in the community among our non-disabled peers. Segregated institutions are not necessary to serve us, and they have been the greatest source of our oppression, especially when they have been run by able-bodied people without our participation.

All human beings are more alike than we are different. We recognize that when we assert this belief we will find ourselves in conflict with regressive institutions and their supporters, some of whom may be disabled themselves. We do not expect thousands of years of stereotyping to dissipate quickly. We commit ourselves and those who come after us to challenge our oppression on every level until we are allowed to be fully human and assert our individuality ahead of our disability.
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Who is ADAPT?

How To Move Past Hypocrisy

When my family goes anywhere, we usually don’t go quietly or unnoticed. We’re not Kate Plus Eight, but everyone’s attention is usually diverted, at least for a short period, to my family. And, being someone who is more comfortable not being noticed, this situation has been quite an adjustment for me.

For the most part, I’ve moved past caring too much about the stares of strangers when we shop, go to the park, go to the movies, or other community activities. But there is something that still troubles me, and I don’t know what to do about it.

Because I am a single parent, where I go, so go my children. Tonight, a memorial service is being held for the recently deceased mother of one of my co-workers. My co-worker and I have been with the same employer for over 25 years now. I am expected to be present at the service and I want to be present. What I don’t want is for my family procession to take anything away from the decorum of the ceremony. And that’s just one example.

About every two months, all my co-workers get together at a local restaurant for dinner. Families are included, and very often attend. But my family is a little different than most – okay, a lot different. My co-workers don’t understand my children and don’t know how to interact with them. In fact, some are probably uncomfortable around my children.

My children and I should not have to spend our lives only moving in social circles of families like our own. While I love every moment I spend with my friends that have children with disabilities, and I am so grateful for their support, I really don't want to impose limits on my children.

I espouse inclusion to anyone who will listen. But here are situations where I could choose inclusion for my children, and I don’t. I guess that makes me a hypocrite. But how do I move past the uncomfortable feelings for others as well as for my family to get to that state of inclusion?

Chief of What?

I’ve never been a Sarah Palin fan, but I’ve got to applaud her for calling out The Obama Administration’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel (pictured to the right), when he recently scolded participants in a strategy session, calling them, “F---ing retarded.”

Mrs. Palin wrote on her Facebook page, “Just as we’d be appalled if any public figure of Rahm’s stature ever used the “N-word” or other such inappropriate language, Rahm’s slur on all God’s children with cognitive and developmental disabilities – and the people who love them – is unacceptable, and it’s heartbreaking.”

That one posting incited a firestorm in the press. Here are a few of the articles, and I hoping that again attention will be called to stopping the use of this hurtful and vile word.

Apology NOT Accepted

Emanual Deserves a Liberal Scolding

In the Offensive Spotlight

Emanuel Offensive Comment

Private Apology is Not Enough

Finding My Voice

Growing up, I was labeled a shy child. As a young adult, I usually let everyone else do the talking, and I was always uncomfortable in social situations. When I moved into the business world, the thought of having to speak in front of a group of people could make me physically sick.

The fact that I am no longer like that I owe completely to Ashley.

I knew before I ever brought Ashley home that I would have to be her ‘voice’. I would have to learn to speak in front of groups of people, often hostile groups. I would have to learn to stand up to doctors and therapists and sometimes question their decisions. I would have to learn to seek out what she needed and then be bold in getting those things. I would have to become her lifetime advocate.

Unlike when I was forced to speak in front of a group of people in my business community, I had no time to think and worry about my speech. I had no time for the jitters to take hold. Rather, Ashley needed my voice, my advocacy, and hesitating would not get her what she needed.

I was immediately thrown into fighting my local hospital when they chose to treat her like a ‘Medicaid’ baby and deny her and me the same considerations someone with expensive insurance would receive.

Less than 6 months about bringing her home, I had to begin my battle with our school district, fighting from the time Ashley was two years old and continuing even today to get her the appropriate school services. That battle took me to speaking before the school board, arguing in IEP meetings, trying to mediate our disagreements, and finally to Federal Court several times.

I’ve fought our state’s Medicaid system to provide for Ashley’s unique needs – a personal care aide who knows sign language and needs to be paid for that skill; a bathroom that was accessible and conducive to developing her self-sufficiency; and ongoing medical supplies when they wished to place limits.

I’ve stood before our state’s General Assembly, and in front of them and a few hundred other people in attendance, have told Ashley’s story. I’ve learned to lobby for people with disabilities and how to fight when their rights are ignored or violated.

In short, knowing that I need to be Ashley’s voice has helped me find my own voice. I can’t say that the jitters are gone completely, but I can say that I am no longer labeled shy, and I can say that I believe I am making a difference both for Ashley and for others.

Disability Doesn't Equate With Inability

That statement in the title of this post was made by Nancy Starnes, director of external affairs for the Washington-based National Organization on Disability upon hearing that a statue honoring Helen Keller would be placed in the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall.

According to the Alabama Governor's office, a statue commemorating Keller's 1887 communication breakthrough (her "w-a-t-e-r" moment) will be the first statue in the Capitol of a person with a disability, as well as the first of a child.

Also according to the Governor of Alabama, the statue will show there are "no limits to what people can accomplish".

Hear, hear!

Check out the full story on CNN.

Today I am thankful for the adoption support group I will attend this evening.