My daughter introduced me to this song from Ragtime last year. My son heard the following quote in History this year and thought I should share it with you:
"I have pleaded your case not in the tones of a feeble mendicant asking for alms but in the thundering voice of the captain of a mighty host, demanding the rights to which free men are entitled." John Llewellyn Lewis
Now, call your representatives (in fact, call your senators too!) and tell them that you can't reform healthcare without reforming longterm care.
Tell them that the bias toward funding institutions INSTEAD of community-based care options is more expensive, prevents the will of the customer from weeding out non-competitive, outdated and undesireable services, keeps the disability community segregated and contributes to the high unemployment rate of people with disabilities since living in institutions eliminates many opportunities. And at times this bias keeps people with disabilities in situations where abuse is rampant. (Read this article to learn more.)
Today was a call-in day for the House of Representatives, for some in the west there is still time to call--for those in the east e-mail, visit or call tomorrow--a lot of calls today would have been great, but voices raised at any time have more impact than silence on important issues.
This ongoing journey requires faith in the power of a single lamp to hold the darkness at bay. It demands confidence in the power of humble actions to act as an inspiration, or a magnet, and draw in greater energies. There is also a need for a certain agility and strategic planning that puts these positive energies a few steps ahead of the negative trends. And, above all, we need a constant awareness that the 'other' is not really different from the 'self'. --Rajni Bakshi
Each time a man stands for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance. (Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.)
We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own. --Ben Sweetland
Never interrupt someone doing what you said could never be done. Amelia Earhart
True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost --Arthur Ashe
We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery. --Samuel Smiles
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. ~Frederick Douglass
For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. --Nelson Mandela
Rest when you're weary. Refresh and renew yourself, your body, your mind, your spirit. Then get back to work. --Ralph Marston
It takes guts to go out the door. It takes courage to enter the world. Because every day there will be hurt, every day there will be stares, comments, social violence. Every day takes a renewed spirit and a sense that it matters what I do, it matters where I go, it matters the respect I demand.
It matters so I do it.
It matters so you do it.
Because our lives have been imprinted with disability.
Therefore our lives have been gifted with purpose. Dave Hingsburger
Where there is no extravagance there is no love, and where there is no love there is no understanding. --Oscar Wilde
So keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in the all oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell all those who come after how much fun it was." --Molly Ivins
Innovation is fostered by information gathered from new connections; from insights gained by journeys into other disciplines or places; from active, collegial networks and fluid, open boundaries. Innovation arises from ongoing circles of exchange, where information is not just accumulated or stored, but created. Knowledge is generated anew from connections that weren't there before. --Margaret J. Wheatley
There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. Elie Wiesel
Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that. --Norman Vincent Peale
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. Those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. C.S. Lewis, 1952 (found here)
Everyday courage has few witnesses. But yours is no less noble because no drum beats for you and no crowds shout your name. --Robert Louis Stevenson
Let us realize that the privilege to work is a gift, that power to work is a blessing, that love of work is success. --David O. McKay
A few years back our school district went through some administrative changes. Within weeks of the change the parents of children with disabilities were alarmed when they were notified that the district had changed the Education Plans of all of the children who receive summer services. These changes were made without holding a single IEP meeting— meetings that are required by federal law.
As the next few years unfolded many, many more problems came to light about the way our district was being administered. The Special Ed parents knew of the problems first. We often joked that our population was like the proverbial canary in the mine shaft.
Before the invention of sophisticated chemical testing equipment coal miners would bring a canary with them when they descended into deep mines. The canary would indicate the presence of poisonous fumes before the miners’ lives were in danger. As long as the canary sang the miners knew they would be all right.
In November I heard Michael Collins from the National Organization on Disability present as part of a panel at the Association of University Centers on Disability annual meeting. He was speaking about his organization’s priority of Emergency Preparedness. Collins stated, “People with disabilities are like the canary in the mineshaft—AND if they can keep us safe, or get us out, they can do it for anybody.”
This stands to reason. If our environments are accessible for people with disabilities they are accessible for all. While steps challenge many, a ramp works for everyone. How many of us have benefited from elevators and automatic doors? And who hasn’t followed the closed captioning when trying to watch the news in a crowded airport or catch a game in a noisy bar? If it works for the people with disabilities everyone succeeds.
It also seems to follow that it if we can meet the challenge of educating the kids with learning needs, we can educate anyone. And if we can address the healthcare needs of folks with significant disabilities we are able to provide care for anyone.
The same can be said for housing, transportation, civil rights, employment and more. If our systems can succeed with people with disabilities they can accommodate anyone. The Universal Design principles that architects use to create accessible spaces can be applied far beyond the accessibility of physical environments.
In my experience this even holds true for cultural issues. For example, if people with disabilities (including cognitive disabilities) are well integrated into a community, people with other differences are usually welcomed as well.
Conversely, when our systems have problems the ill effects are first noticeable to people with disabilities as well. Like the canary in the mineshaft the experiences of people with disabilities are often the first indicators of both society’s successes and its failures.
(Thanks to my friend Kathy who made me the miniature canary in the cage in answer to my picture dilemma!)
I am the mother of three, wife of one. I am a Partners in Policymaking graduate and a committed disability advocate. I want to catch up on my scrapbooking, learn more about art-journaling, get my house in order, read all the books I have set aside to read and change the world--not necessarily in that order. The opinions in this blog are my own and not those of any of employers.
