JANUARY 26, 2004
SHOW AND GO OR RIDE AND HIDE WE DECIDE
The introductions to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act [IDEA] and the Americans with Disabilities Act [ADA] remind us that disability is a natural part of the human condition. The sheer numbers of people entitled to services under IDEA, 6.5 million, or to accommodations under the ADA, over 50 million, dramatically prove the truth of the statement. People with disabilities are a substantial, vital, and natural part of the American community and of the American fabric.
We are entering the 2004 Presidential Primary season. The electoral stakes in America are high this year, perhaps as high as they ever have been. People with disabilities and our families and supporters can play a key role in deciding and shaping disability policy for the next decade and the next generation. We can show up with our opinions and state our needs and go to the polls to implement them; or we can let the system ride and hide our stories and our votes in the process.
Frankly, despite our huge numbers, people with disabilities just do not register as large voting blocs with political parties or politicians. Perhaps it is because our numbers cross over all the major voting blocs. People with disabilities are women and men; young and old; white and native/African/Hispanic/Asian American; Northerners and Southerners; wealthy and poor; educated and illiterate; urban and rural; single and married, with and without children; gay, straight and bisexual; employed and looking for work; and taxpayers and governmental program recipients.
We people with disabilities and our families and supporters are Everyman and Everywoman, but somehow it seems we have no power or voice for ourselves. Perhaps we have fallen into the trap identified by Dr. Phil that we teach people how to treat us.
Imagine for a minute how the political parties and the media would have handled the IDEA reauthorization debate if people with disabilities were perceived to have the same political clout as has been attributed to senior citizens in the prescription drug issue. If we insisted that Congress treat our community and our needs with the same respect and consideration it gives to the major corporations or to racial or geographic voting blocs, does anyone believe we would be fighting now to save IDEA, instead of trying to improve it? Would the educational hopes and aspirations of Americas children rest in large part on the advocacy of consumer-based non-profit organizations and the work of a few parents operating Web sites like Our Children Left Behind [OCLB] if the power of the community of people with disabilities roared rather than snored?
Whose fault is it but ours that 6.5 million children are going to lose fundamental rights and services, and not one major media outlet has covered the story? When do we show and go; and when do we ride and hide?
In the next six weeks most Americans are going to have the chance to go to the polls or to party caucuses to express individual preferences for who should become or remain our President. Within the next 7 months we all will choose the principal Republican and Democratic Party candidates for 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives and 33 seats in the United States Senate. Nearly a third of the open Senate seats have sitting Senators retiring, meaning the seats will go to a new person, and perhaps to a new party. Our community can sway the balance in many Congressional races; can make a major impact in the Senate races; and can influence the making and the election of our next president.
We at OCLB have received anecdotal information that the community of people with disabilities, acting at the urging of advocacy organizations and Web sites like OCLB, has made a difference in the IDEA reauthorization battle. We believe this to be true. But our community has so much more to give to the political debate, and so much more influence to exert on shaping the political reaction to the major issues we confront. We have criticized the silence of our friends in recent home pages. We no longer can overlook our own malaise and failure to act.
This is a political call to arms. The disability community must show and go. We can make a difference as a significant political community if we:
Write/call/fax the major parties and our current members of Congress and tell them what we as a community need and expect from them, beginning with preserving IDEA.
Publicly call for individual candidates and the parties to declare their positions on the major issues important to people with disabilities, including the issues of IDEA; community-based supports; ADA; Medicare/Medicaid; etc. Dont accept silence. Ask every candidate to announce her/his disability platform and how she/he is going to be accountable to our community and constituents.
Express our support publicly for those candidates regardless of party affiliation -- who are taking strong public positions supporting our political goals and objectives, and who have developed a performance record of pursuing our interests in the political arena.
Actively inform the media of our individual and organizational views on major issues facing our community, and of our opinions on how political candidates or parties have addressed those issues.
Commit ourselves to staking out public positions and territory on issues that are important to us.
Disability is a natural part of the human condition. Politics is a natural way for a society to accumulate and allocate resources to address those needs identified by society. We members of the community of people with disabilities can choose to accept the political power that already is available to us by virtue of our sheer numbers. We can teach politicians and the media how to treat us, and how to treat the major issues that are important to us.
The IDEA reauthorization process has shown our community that Congress thinks we are politically weak, even as it threatens the services and rights of 6.5 million members of our political community. We can be angry with Congress and do nothing; or we can choose to teach Congress how to treat us. The election season is upon us. We can show and go or we can ride and hide. Its our choice to make, and our time to make it. Tell the politicians and the media that we are here, and that we are not ever going to go away. We are a major political force, and have decided to make ourselves heard.
Tricia & Calvin Luker, today's parentvolunteer@ourchildrenleftbehind.com
©2004 Our Children Left Behind.
Our Children Left Behind [OCLB] was created and is owned/operated by parent volunteers (Sandy Alperstein, Tricia & Calvin Luker, Shari Krishnan, and Debi Lewis). Permission to forward, copy, and/or post this article is granted provided that it is unedited and attributed to the author(s) and www.ourchildrenleftbehind.com. For more about OCLB or to share information, please contact parentvolunteer@ourchildrenleftbehind.com.
