SADLY,
PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES STILL ARE SEEKING
EQUALITY, INCUSION, ACCESSIBILITY AND
INDEPENDENCE
“Disability
discrimination is not a lesser form of discrimination. It is not benign. It is
not understandable. It is not rational and there is no rational basis for it. A
civil rights agenda is hollow without a commitment to combat disability bias
and ableism.” -- Gregory
Mansfield, Disabled Lawyer. Disability Rights and Disability Justice. Twitter: @GHMansfield
I wish I had written those words in italics. The end line, posted on Twitter by activist Gregory Mansfield, capture exactly what I have been trying to express for more than a year.
In the past year, politicians and corporations have scrambled to up their equity and inclusion games.
I have read thousands of
diversity and inclusion statements, but saw disability mentioned maybe once or
twice.
I wondered why a commitment, if genuine, to uplift marginalized people via hiring, promotion and other programs -- didn't seem to include people with disabilities.
I recently read a story
about Senator Tammy Duckworth sponsoring legislation to fund the retrofitting of
every transit station to include access for disabilities.
This is great. And about
time. Only a fraction of subway and elevated trains are accessible to
wheelchair users in New York, Chicago and many other places where movement by
transit is essential to getting to work, home, medical appointments, shopping, recreation
and all other daily needs.
For more than a century,
this nation has been content with that kind of exclusion.
Imagine if we dictated
that people who are Black, Hispanic, Jewish, Catholic or part of the LGBTQ
community could only access a fraction of the essential public transit in their
dense urban cites.
No one would accept it.
But disabled people have had to accept that second class status.
We all most bond together to continue the struggle for true independence.
Read a full-length piece on Medium at:
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