Re: raison d'etre

in a recent post to the AU list, william loughborough wrote, quote:
Every once in a while I feel the irresistible urge to rave a bit about why 
we're here, sometimes with the still-rather-radical notion that we live in 
a society where "disability" is regarded with both fear and loathing.
unquote

i don't know how quote still-rather-radical unquote the notion that we live 
in a society where persons with disabilities are regarded with both fear 
and loathing is -- during the lead up to, and during the week of, the tenth 
anniversary of the americans with disabilities act (ADA), there were a rash 
of stories on the radio and in other media on how much of an effect the ADA 
has had on disabled individuals...  the universal consensus was that, while 
a veneer of accessibility has been laid over public places (braille in 
elevators, for example, when less than thirty percent of the blind in the 
U.S. read braille), while it may be easier to get to some places and have 
some services provided in a suitable (TTY information lines, braille bills, 
etc.), there are 2 major obstacles still to be overcome:

1. fear and loathing (a lot of it, it is true, is based on a simple [some 
say instinctive] fear-of-the-other, but quite a lot of it based on a lack 
of exposure to or interaction with persons with disabilities, as well as 
plain old ignorance, indifference, and disdain)

2. the inadequacy of the cookie cutter approach to the provision of 
reasonable accommodations (such as: "why are you complaining? we put 
braille on the ATM machine's buttons, didn't we?  what do you mean 'where 
are the braille labels on the touch screen and the voice output?'"; or 
"look lady, we made this door as wide as we had to--it's not my fault 
you're in a souped up scooter that won't fit through instead of a regular 
wheelchair" -- and, yes, those are actual quotes from conversations i have 
either been party or witness to)

so rant on, bill -- sometimes it helps us realize what really is at stake 
-- not only full participation in one of the most sweeping revolutions in 
human interaction, but the possibility of achieving of a level of 
intellectual, economic, academic, and personal autonomy that most of us 
never dreamed actualizable...

just my ha'penny's worth,
gregory.
CYNIC, n.  A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not
as they ought to be.  Hence the custom among the Scythians of plucking out
a cynic's eyes to improve his vision.
      -- Ambrose Bierce, _The Devil's Dictionary_
-----
Gregory J. Rosmaita <unagi69@concentric.net>
Camera Obscura: <http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/index.html>
VICUG NYC: <http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/vicug/index.html>
Read 'Em & Speak: <http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/books/index.html>

Received on Wednesday, 27 September 2000 12:44:10 UTC