The 20th Anniversary of the ADA is This Summer And Yet.....

Barbara sent me to this link. And it is appalling. A young boy who uses a walker visited the playground at The Galleria Mall in Dallas in 2010 and the security staff REMOVED HIS WALKER from the play area because it is supposedly a hazzard. (The playground equipment is NOT a hazzard, but his means of mobility IS...)

These security guards are 20 years behind in their profession. Yes, that's right--the ADA has been the law of the land for 20 years (this July.)

In Dallas, Texas (not some tiny town.)

Lovely. Who else has a chance??

So, what can we do?

• If you live in Dallas, a phone call or letter to the mall's administration letting them know that you find this unacceptable and a suggestion that all of their security guards receive training about the ADA and their responsibility in upholding it would be lovely. Bonus points for anyone who writes a letter to the editor!
• There are many Galleria Malls around the country. A call or letter to the mall administration in your city referencing this incident in Dallas and asking what sort of ADA training is required for their staff (and suggesting where they can get some if  you happen to know!)

Situations like these are why I wrote my 'manifesto' ... and they are the reason this blogger, and this blogger are in Washington this week.



Twenty years is long enough to wait for access, rights and respect. This little guy should grow up in  in a world without this blatant discrimination--and we can help.

Leave a comment if you decide to take some action!

Here's To a Grand New Year

I am having a totally spoiled moment. I am sitting on my couch eating my breakfast of oatmeal with bananas and walnuts AND brown sugar (I usually add in some vanilla yogurt instead. But bananas and yogurt together is just like requesting a migraine, and who would do that? So I must have sugar.)

I am looking out at white snow tipping the black trees against the brightening sky and thinking about writing.

Not writing. Just thinking about it. But that's more than I've done in a couple weeks so it feels like progress to me.

So first of all, Happy New Year to everyone in the blogosphere--In hope your year is lovely in all the ways that you hope it will be, and more.

If you are looking for a New Year's reflection, I recommend this post from Ali Edwards.

Also, I am trying something new for accessibility for this blog. I have added Odiogo. You can click the button at the top of each post to hear it read, or you can click the icon in the right column and subscribe on your ipod or whatever... This is an experiment. I hope it will be helpful for people with vision or reading disabilities. Let me know what you think.

I read this article today on Media Dis n' Dat. I think having a suite for families traveling with children with autism is a good idea. I think it would also be marketable for families with someone who has Alzheimer's disease.

I am not resolving to post more because that is a guarantee that I won't, but I will try...

Happy 2010!

(Oops, was going to post a picture, but my camera and memory card just left with my daughter... So I am posting this video made by kids who grew up on my street, hope it makes you chuckle.)

Homemade Adaptation and Assimilation

Barbara at Therextras is hosting a blog carnival this week about the adaptations we make in our homes to support development. (As noted by mommydearest at The QuirkFactor, there is no popcorn... There never is.... sigh....)

At first I had no idea what to include. The days of labels on everything are gone, I no longer have a big clock face with moveable hands on my refrigerator (not because my daughter is great at time-telling, but because the thing just disintegrated!) And I no longer have plastic links on my cupboard doors--some to keep them shut and others to extend the handle for better gripping... The junior bed and tricky doorknob covers are long gone...

But then I looked around and realized that we have made many adaptations for participation, which I guess does qualify as development. This is a sign to all you young parents. Though the accommodations you make at home may seem like a huge deal when you are looking ahead at them, you will assimilate some of them so thoroughly that you will forget you even made them (or I am having memory issues... nope, it's definitely assimilation!)

Laundry: My daughter is short. This is why we bought a front-loading washer and drier when our old models bit the dust ("Yes Honey, we NEED the new, fancy, more expensive model--it's for Jennn!"). Stepping on and off a step stool to load the washer was inefficient in the extreme and required constant stand-by assist, now I can say "put the dark colors in the washer" and she can.

Kitchen: Many accommodations here.
*We have 2 microwaves--one above the stove and then one on the counter for reachability.
*We have contained chopping and cutting systems so cooking can happen without cutting since I just can't get comfortable with knife skills AND we still want to eat!
*I used to store things in the lower cupboards so that putting away dishes could be for all my kids, but we don't need to do that any more.
*We use pinch clothespins instead of twisties for ease of opening wherever possible. *I have oatmeal and brown sugar cannisters because the packaging was just too challenging, those cannisters were chosen for ease of opening for my daughter...
*I also buy the zipper plastic bags with the slider mechanism. My daughter can open the plain ones, but she can't close them reliably.

Posted checklists come and go around our house as needed.

Bath: The 'safe temperature zone' is marked on my shower faucet with crayon.

I can't think of anything else at the moment... but that is because we have assimilated them so well (and don't you forget it! :)

Picture from here.

Where Advocacy Began (for me!)

When my daughter was a baby there was a program for toddlers at our town hall designed to give the kids a chance to play and moms a little break. I loved the idea of this program, used it fairly regularly for my older kids and looked forward to bringing my youngest there when she was of age.

When the day finally arrived I took her to register. I knew there several other moms who were bringing their kids to the program so Jenn would have friends there. I was psyched.

I walked into the office carrying my daughter, filled out the paperwork, turned to speak to the director and was turned away.

“What?? Why?”

“Well, we don’t have kids like her here. We aren’t equipped. What if she cried?”

I said, “You’re running a program for 2-4 year olds—don’t they all cry?”

She was firm and she told me I wasn’t to think badly of them because they had inclusion programs, this just wasn’t one of them. I said I didn't inclusion was a program, that it’s the opposite of exclusion, but she was unmoved.

“Nope, she isn’t walking as well as the others, she can’t come. It wouldn’t be safe.”

I offered to provide a stroller for her, a stander, special toys. I insisted that it was ok with me if she fell down (since she also fell down at home.) But they were adamant. They did not take children “like her.”

Now, I had been through a little introductory advocacy training and had sat through a few IFSP meetings (IEPs for babies) and I had heard about disability discrimination. But no one had ever looked at MY darling baby and just said no before.

When I got in the car I burst into tears—I actually had to sit there for a bit because I couldn’t see to drive for a few minutes… but by the time I got home I was LIVID.

My town—to whom we pay taxes—was not going to look at my family and say, “We like this one, and that one, but that one is not ok…”

Oh no. They were not.

I walked in the door of my house, handed my daughter a graham cracker and called The Advocacy Center. They were aghast too…in fact they were arm wrestling over who could take the case—they all wanted it.

The lawyer I got to speak to said, in no uncertain terms, “No matter which minority you belong to, access is the civil right. There can be no opportunity, no equality without it.”

He sent me back to the program a few days later for some conversation, armed with knowledge and terminology. I am proud to say I was calm, polite and coherent.

And, it did no good at all.

And then the lawyer called the town.

After that the town called ME to make sure Jenn was registered at the start of each season. (And she did just fine in their program.)

Some people questioned whether we should speak up, whether we should just go somewhere else, do something else…

I was not capable of that. On any level. At all.

I knew in my heart that the lawyer was right. Segregation and inaccessibility keep people from the tools, relationships and opportunities to belong, to grow, to achieve and to contribute.

Access may not be everything, but access comes first.

Access opens the door.

Picture from here.

Ableism, Accessibility and the Inauguration: Doing the Math

When I was in high school I have to admit I was not a great math student. I faced new concepts (and some old ones) with a combination of confusion and intimidation that blocked even the faintest possibility of success. Finally, I stayed after school for extra help (though I held out no hope) and the teacher I worked with turned out to be great. She taught me a principle that made it possible for me to learn math, and that eventually became a foundation for logical thinking.

She told me, “If a principle works, it works for any number.”

Then she would have me do the complex equation with the number 2 or 5 until I understood it. In this way I learned things I had managed to miss completely for years… and I eventually passed the class. (Frankly, my dad probably also told me this 10,000 times, but he was my dad. I didn’t hear it when he said it! Sorry Dad!)

Extrapolator that I am, today I apply this principle way beyond math. When faced with a complex question of ethics I simplify it for myself by applying it to other groups or situations to see if I understand it better. It is not a perfect razor, but sometimes it helps.

So, let’s talk about the inauguration.

Carol Florman,of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies announced to the press early in January that the inauguration would not be accessible, transportation would be shut down and travel would be long and obstructed so those with disabilities, small children and the elderly shouldn’t come…

What other minority should we substitute into this equation? Let’s think about African American’s…

Would it be acceptable to tell African-American citizens that the inauguration would not be safe or appropriate for them so they would be better off staying home? Cilla at Big Noise points out that the Disability Rights movement has many lessons to learn from the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s—what have we learned about exclusion and segregation? Could we tell African-Americans that they would be better off watching the inauguration in a place better-suited for “their kind”?

As much as I love our new President’s disability platform, I find the ableism and inaccessibility that were evident at the inauguration terribly upsetting. It feels as if, in our administration, the right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing…

(And can you tell me, after 20 years of the ADA, why our nation’s capitol is NOT suited for people with disabilities??

And why, when becoming accessible is required do disgruntled folks blame “those people with disabilities” rather than the business-owners and policymakers of the last 20 years who should have taken care of the problem years ago?

Sorry, I digress!)

When I discussed the inaccessibility of the inauguration with folks they told me I was unreasonable… whining even.

I was told there had only been 2 months to plan (don’t inaugurations happen every 4 years??) and that “those people” should content themselves with the TV since many people weren’t going (people who made that choice for themselves, may I point out?)

Then, at the inauguration itself former Vice-President Dick Cheney was using a wheelchair and commentator, Chris Matthews remarked that his wheelchair use was a metaphor for his lowly status in the eyes of Americans….

WHAT????

A wheelchair is a tool used for mobility. It makes no implications whatsoever about the status or capacity of its user. None.

And let’s try our substitution exercise:

Which minority could we put down in that way without consequences? What if something about Cheney reminded the announcer of the GLBTQ community and the announcer used THAT as a metaphor for something negative?? An announcer making that sort of remark would have to apologize—he might even lose his job.

And the fact that these glaring gaffes are either invisible or seem perfectly reasonable to most people in 2009 is utterly appalling. This is the living breathing definition of ableism among us.

So, the inauguration is in the past. What now?

Join the folks at the AAPD in demanding an apology from TV announcers who make ableist remarks. Thought while speaking is required. Ableism is as demeaning as any other ism and must end.

Write to Obama’s administration and ask them to gather their inauguration committee and some folks versed in Universal Design and use this fresh inauguration experience to design accessible events NOW. So we never have to have this conversation again.

We can do better than this, I'm just sayin'.

Gary Pressley has some thoughts on this subject as well. See here, here and here.

Obama and Accessibility: A Disturbing Trend

While the Obama campaign was the first to articulate a disability platform (Obama had one from April, the McCain campaign added theirs in October) when it comes to accessibility, the welcome mat for the disability community has not been out...

The Obama campaign stated to Bad Cripple way back in the spring that "they were doing the best they could on accessibility." Sadly, this did not mean they were ensuring that campaign sites were accessible--it meant that sites might or might not be accessible, and that was ok with the campaign.

With that attitude it is little wonder that my friend Roving Activist had this experience back on December 30. An Obama Transition Team meeting on Healthcare Reform that is NOT accessible??? How can this be? Now the building should certainly be compliant with the ADA (and apparently has changes underway to rectify that), but checking to see that venues are accessible should also be the responsibility of Obama's people...

And now Planet of the Blind shares that ABC in VA is reporting that people with disabilities are actively being discouraged from attending the innauguration.

What if this were happening to any other minority?? Of course, it has in the past, but I mean now, in 2009?

I understand that they feel that this is a safety issue, but this is a safety issue because they have a lack-of-planning issue.

And they feel it is fine that they haven't planned proactively to for the inclusion of people with disabilities. After all, they aren't turning people away because they don't LIKE them... Some of their best friends have disabilities, I'm sure....

Psssst,note to Obama and team: Failing to plan is planning to fail--and when you're not including, you're excluding. (And don't tell me it's too hard, we KNOW you can overcome obstacles!)

Wheelie Catholic also has some things to say about this issue.

I sincerely hope that this is not what we can expect for the next 4 years.

Picture from here.

Anti-Ableism Videos

Part 2: (has a moment of adult implication--worth it, I think!)