I wrote this in 2005 (with recent edits) and thought it relevant.
*****
The disabled community had a leader once, Justin Dart Jr. Father of the ADA.. A man I met once when, in 1996, he spoke at a local community college. He was amazing, and when I finally met him I was too awestruck and shy to say much. I was in the prime of my advocacy, constantly fighting for one access issue or another at the college I attended.
You have to know our history before you can even begin to know the mindset. The holocaust, forced sterilization, and various civil rights laws that granted disabled people an equal education or equal access, not to mention mercy killings and assisted suicide. Our movement is far from young, and also far from over.
Read More