November, 2005
I met with a real estate agent last week to look at a house that's for sale in my neighborhood. I walked up the stairs to the front of the house, and the agent looked noticeably bewildered. I knew what was coming next without even having to think about it. "What happened?" he said, "Do you have polio or something?" I know I should say I'm used to questions like that, after all I was born with a physical disability and I've always had people ask me in one way or the other what my disability is. But, no matter how often it happens, I'm always at somewhat of a loss as to how to react.
So, I just proceeded to provide my standard mantra about how I have Cerebral Palsy, and while I may walk like someone with Polio, the two disabilities are very different. I couldn't resist adding that there has been a vaccine for Polio, since the early '50's. I may have reacted calmly on the outside, but on the inside, I had already lost my temper. I thought, I can't believe this person...How rude...Wasn't he paying attention in history class?...You know, Jonas Salk...1952...But as often happens, when I question others, I started to question myself.
I was reviewing essay questions on the history of people with disabilities, and I thought, Geez...these questions are hard. How would I answer them? I can't very well sit in judgment of someone else and their knowledge of history, when there is still so much I don't know. I didn't become involved in the disability field until after college, and suffice it to say there were no courses on the Disability Rights Movement offered on my campus. So, what I've learned, I've pieced together from trainings and reading that I've done on my own.
Many people with disabilities may think they are too busy handling the issues that come up in their daily lives to bother learning about Disability History. They have a point. It is exasperating to try to make it from month to month on public benefits, or to deal with problems with paratransit every time you leave your house. These issues should not be dismissed. However, studying our history as people with disabilities helps, even with our day-to-day trials. It teaches that we are not alone. There were people who came before us, that dealt with the same things we do, and got through them.
Furthermore, learning our history teaches us the importance of advocacy. Changes for people with disabilities were not made overnight. They were the result of long and frustrating efforts by individuals that did not accept life without public education, access, and other basic civil rights. They are role models for those of us who continue this work today, and they teach us that we cannot give up. Fortunately, there are many resources out there for people who want to learn more about advocacy efforts and other aspects of disability history.
For more information log on to:
The University of California at Berkeley web site on the Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement at bancroft.berkeley.edu/collections/drilm/
The Disability Social History Project at www.disabilityhistory.org
The Smithsonian National Museum of American History Disability Rights Movement Exhibit at americanhistory.si.edu/disabilityrights/welcome.html