Welcome to the New CCDI Member Blog!
This blog is a forum for CCDI members to discuss a wide variety of advocacy topics, such as employment, accessible parking, affordable and accessible transportation, healthcare, Olmstead implementation, community choice, affordable and accessible housing, low income heating and energy assistance, transition services, human rights and discrimination, assistive technology, and voting.
We hope that you will take advantage of this opportunity to share your ideas, personal stories, successes, failures, and inspiration, with other CCDI advocates!
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CCDI is a statewide organization, and that's all well and good, but the disabled have problems on greater levels. We don't have Ed Robets anymore, and I really feel like we're lacking that nationally recognizable and personable face. AAPD is doing what it can, but I feel like some of the more grassroots organizations could do a better job of coordinating with each other to make a difference on a bigger scale. Things are bad for us, but it pays to remember, I think, that things are worse for people in other countries. If we can get the entire world to the point that the United States is currently at, then maybe we can work together in getting people beyond that point. I currently have a cousin visiting Vietnam, a friend visiting Jerusalem and Palestine, and a friend who has a job that is taking her to various locales of economic struggle throughout the world. I often wonder what life must be like for disabled people in these countries. I was fortunate enough to go to France after I graduated high school, one of the things I remember most vividly is not seeing one other disabled person while I was there. I don't know if this is true, but, when I was attending the University of Illinois, I heard a rumor that one of the students was the son of a Saudi Arabian prince who sent him to live as an American, because he knew he would have a better life that way. From what I know of other countries this seems very believable.
ReplyDeleteThat sets up the point that I think we all forget about the rest of the world, now, here's why I believe that. The disability minority unlike many other minorities throughout history does not have a common cultural heritage, we did not all come from one geographical area, like Africa or Latin America, we do not share a religious tradition, we do not even have similar biological issues necessarily, which is what bonded the women's movement to an extent. Some of us are pro-life, some of us are pro-choice, some of us live in red areas, some of us live in blue areas. Some of us favor assisted suicide, others do not. I believe it is important to think about what we have in common and find the common goals for which we can fight. Some of us may want to go to a nightclub, whereas others of us may want to go to a church, but I think both of these groups agree that better transportation is necessary for those with mobility impairments. We all want to make sure that both Fox news and MSNBC are properly closed captioning their programs, whichever we might watch. We should all want both Readers Digest and Details to be available in accessible formats, and we should all want all these things for the disabled regardless of where they may live. This is why I think it is time to ask President Obama to consider another White House conference on Disability. There has not been one since the Carter administration. I think this would be a good way to determine the issues on which the disability rights movement can agree, maybe establish a national leader, and hopefully bring attention to the poor situation for the disabled in many economically emerging countries. The movement seems to have many people focused on their own needs, which is a good and important thing, but which may also be why we don't seem to be getting anywhere as fast as we used to. I believe the founders of the movement were aware that the work would not be finished in their generation. The new leaders must now accept that same fact, and yet never stop working to improve things. Individually, I don't know how many of you want to give up, but I think many of us do have different directions we want to go. If we all try to go in those directions, we will, at the end of the day, not make as much progress as the organized resistance of previous generations has, and that's a mistake I don't want to make.