Saturday, January 24, 2009

Inaugural Excitement

Well, I have missed blogging this week. I have been taking part in a training and it threw me off. It was an excellent program and I learned tons, but it totally wore me out! I would get home, eat, sit down to write and fall asleep. Twice this week one of my kids lifted my laptop off of my sleeping self and replaced it with a blanket... (and of course I panicked when I awoke and thought I'd dropped the computer.)

And so much has happened!



Did you see the inauguration? What an amazing event.

And on day 2 President Obama addressed disability issues!!!! Autism, but not just autism... BEAUTIFUL!

We are not invisible.

Now, I know some activists are thinking that they can finally take a nap--we have arrived. A lot of the moms I know are sighing in relief, dying to return to hearth and home and leave political involvement to the professionals...

This, of course, is a HUGE mistake. In fact, our potential for complacency makes me almost GLAD that the inauguration was inaccessible. That was a pretty glaring exclusion--they even wrote it in the papers, for the sake of Pete--whoever he is!

I don't see this week's events as a signal of our arrival. I see this time of recognition as an OPPORTUNITY. An opportunity that will be lost forever if we sleep through it.

What are we going to do with this new visibility??? How are we going to leverage this moment to improve the lives of our communities--including our citizens with disabilities? How are we going to extend this moment to encompass the year, this generation and the future?

I believe, as I have written before, that presence leads to credence, and credence leads to influence...

Active and creative advocacy applied NOW has unlimited potential to change the world. So, what are your awesome ideas????

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