ADVOCACY — DISABILITIES
Gradual Lasting Change
We Shall Overcome — Perception and Disability
I can honestly say that I was born to be an advocate. The complications of my birth gave me a disability known as Cerebral Palsy. As a result, my speech, balance, and some motor functions were compromised. And although I’ve always used a wheelchair, I cherish my wheelchair as an extension of my identity — the identity of an advocate for disability rights.
However, it may surprise you to learn that my biggest obstacles aren’t from the physical limitations of my body. No, in my lifetime, my biggest obstacles have always been overcoming the perception that people with disabilities are somehow “less than” and aren’t capable of being productive adults. This baseless assumption stokes cultural ignorance which in turn drives legislative agendas.
Furthering my call to advocacy is the fact that I was born in the early1960s. A decade marked by the dawn of an array of advocacy movements across America’s social, cultural, and political landscapes. Prominent leaders such as Martin Luther King and Malcolm X led the fight for racial equality. Meanwhile, Caesar Chavez spearheaded organizing farm workers. And, women such as Bella Abzug, Betty Friedan, and Gloria Steinem, were instrumental during the women’s liberation movement. Although I was a child during this era, I had an unusual fascination for current events. My mom often wondered why her not even seven-year-old son would be one of Walter Cronkite’s most loyal viewers as he delivered the nightly news about the latest protest marches, sit-ins, and police sometimes overstepping the boundaries of their job.
No one picks up a torch of advocacy without a burning need to call attention to an injustice. No one actively seeks a life of sobering people up from their collective delusion that egalitarianism is already woven into the fabric of society. So, when you become an advocate for social change, you understand that like ocean waves gradually smoothing a shoreline, you must perpetually push tides of change. Because anytime a stable (but flawed) societal model is challenged by oppressed sectors of a country there is a reflexive pushback.
People who have never experienced any of the isms still may have minor annoyances with the government. But, most of them, don’t see and or relate to systematic oppression of a chunk of society who don’t happen to be white able-bodied males. However, to simply surmise that this is due to unsympathetic or apathetic about struggling groups is lazy thinking. Most people are too busy with their day-to-day lives and individual challenges to give much attention to issues that don’t seem to affect them. So, naturally, any rebellion against the social order is met with emotions running the gamut from skepticism to primal fear.
To be fair though, it’s true that overt, hate-driven, racism, sexism, and ableism is a cancerous tumor infecting America’s promise of freedom and liberty for all. With that being said, however, this form of surface bigotry gets too much credit for many of our societal inequalities. I still believe that most people are inherently good. No, I submit that the overriding culprit is legalized — politically motivated — bigotry in the form of the invisible hand of creeping legislation. Ever so slowly, corporate and pseudo “faith-based” political action committees or P.A.C.s pull the leash of a politician who they bankrolled into office.
As a result, over the course of the last 40 years or so, we’ve seen a systematic undermining of laws that were passed during the height of the advocacy era circa late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Most notably, various civil and gender rights to the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act — A.D.A.
So, what happened? All these separate movements for positive changes and equality were motivated by passion to make America actually walk the walk of its stated mission statement — liberty and justice for all. Advocates, of the 1960s, didn’t just hold up protest signs for only one day and go home that evening never to return. They understood that fighting for real lasting change takes time, persistence, and sacrifice.
Knowing this, today’s social advocates mustn’t fall into the trap of resting upon past victories. In the United States right now, we are witnessing the unfolding consequences of assuming rights can’t be stripped away by a few powerful judges and politicians with authoritarian — anti-American — aspirations. One particularly alarming trend is that conservative judges have begun to infuse religious doctrine into their stated opinions. Despite the fact that such “faith-based” rulings are in direct violation of one foundational pillar of the United States — the “separation of church and state.”
Moreover, due to the rise of these aforementioned authoritarian politicians, white-supremacist groups have become emboldened by the hate speech spewed by these politicians. As a result, women are in danger of once again losing autonomy over their own bodies. People of color are being unjustly profiled and outright executed by police in the streets.
People with disabilities have to jump through hoops just to maintain their government benefits such as not being allowed to have cumulative bank accounts in excess of $2,000. Also, a person with a disability can’t get married or they’ll have to forfeit all government benefits: income, medical insurance, etc… These outdated and suppressive laws cast people with disabilities in the role of second-class citizens.
The process of enacting positive change doesn’t happen overnight. I’ve come to think of advocacy efforts like ocean waves coming onto shore and receding over the course of a day. As the morning turns into afternoon and eventually into night the ocean waters slowly cover more and more of the sandy beach. Ocean waves, while slow and steady, are also ruthlessly relentless in their infinite mission to claim more land. In a similar fashion, true advocates for positive social change know that the battle is never won. The goal towards a “more perfect union” is something that we strive toward — but never completely attain. Like the ocean waves perpetually washing up onshore, advocates understand that the fight against oppression never ebbs.
★ Thank you for reading and supporting MuserScribe. We publish five days a week — Monday to Friday inclusively 🖋️🌟📚 ★
