Disabled Elders Need
To Teach & Preach
N. Gray
Recently the disabled community mourned the passing of one of its devoted workers. Phil Chavez, who was disabled, worked in the intake department of (CIL) Center for Independent Living for twenty-five years. When a disabled citizen went through CIL’s door Phil was the one who would take you on the first step towards independence. He would inform about your civil rights, the government assistance programs, and local assistance programs for in home health care.
His passing added too the long line of disabled leaders who are no longer with us. It is another person that America can no longer seek new ideas or new political thoughts in the disabled community. America is losing disabled elders at an alarming rate. With the passing of each disabled leader, we lose the talents, the skills, and the pro disabled political force. It is time to pass the political torch and step aside and let the young disabled take the movement to the next decade.
DISABLED ELDERS NEED TO TEACH AND PREACH
While rolling around the campus of the University of California At Berkeley on this bright sunny day I entertain a conversation started with a few disabled students. I noticed that they did not know of the former struggles of previous disabled students at Cal.
1) They uniformed about the history of four brave young disabled males living in the University hospital while attending classes.
2) They did not know that some disabled students were unable to attend classes that they needed to graduate because the building was inaccessible.
3) They did not know that these four disabled students had to ride in streets of Berkeley because there were no wheelchair access curb cuts on the corners.
4) They did not know that for every ten disabled African American high school student, only one gets to enter the halls of college and that college is a daunting task for disabled black students. Only one out of ten gets to don his school colors on graduation day.
5) They were ignorant of the federal laws and regulations of 504 and (ADA) Americans with Disabilities Act.
6) They did not know that many disabled Bay Area citizens went to jail for six hours so that they can now have the right to ride the new accessible buses in the Bay Area.
7) They did not know the political, economic, and social implications of the Center for Independent Living on Telegraph Ave. Berkeley, the mother of the disabled political movement. And it seemed as if they did not want to know or care. This is the next battle for the disabled community. This responsibility falls to the Disabled elders to teach the rich history of the disabled movement.
DISABLED ELDERS NEED TO TEACH AND PREACH
This is a very dangerous precedence for the disabled movement and disabled Americans. Disabled Americans should know their history to sustain their independence just as African Americans needed to know their history to preserve there pride, independence, and heritage.
There is a current movement in the non-disabled world to roll back the disabled communities astonishments of the 1960’s,-70’s,-and 80’s. Disabled Elders are going to have to take the political lead in reestablishing the disabled independence agenda. The wheelchair industries are now creating new lightweight motorized chairs that are for indoors and not outdoors thus limiting the mobility of very active disabled folk. These wheelchair companies do not ask the disabled community what kind of wheelchairs would accommodate them. Saving money is a priority in this small industry and not caring about the physical needs of disabled clients. The industry is manufacturing motorized chairs at an astounding speed. This industries priority is for the easy accommodations of the wheelchair repair shops and the wheelchair mechanic and not the accessibility of the disabled individual. The industry just mass produced these chairs in the typical capitalist way because there has been an increase demand for these chairs, America is graying and they want mobility, using them only part-time for distance.
Last year I received my 5th motorized chair and it was a drastic change from the other four chairs. This chair was the most powerful but did not conform to my body like the other motorized vehicles. This new chair had too many wide spaces on the sides so transporting material is difficult with materials falling through the holes. This chair has little or no support bars so when I transferred from bed to chair or from chair to sofa I could not depend on its structure to lean on. How can non disabled people are making choices for disabled individuals that effect there lives and this is just one example of this.
DISABLED ELDERS NEED TO TEACH AND PREACH
The elders charge is to advise younger disabled citizens how to change their environment to make it accessible. State governments are cutting benefits for the disabled and insurance companies are denying coverage thus making it more difficult for independent disabled citizens to live alone. This is a blatant, barefaced, and deliberate attempt to relocate disabled people on mass to senior housing and assisted care facilities. Again the elders are going to have to teach the younger ones how to manipulate the political system to achieve their goal of total independence.
DISABLED ELDERS NEED TO TEACH AND PREACH
) The Elders charge is to instruct the younger disabled crowd how to negotiate with state legislators, to organized and maintain a political protest within the disabled community.
2) The Elders must teach them how to write and then support a bill for disabled citizens.
3) The Elders must teach them how to write grants benefiting the disabled community and their families.
4) If elders don’t teach, we (the disabled community) will revert back into the Stone Age where only the educated and rich disabled live a free life, while the other disabled citizen are ignored. How tragic this would be after all of the political, social, and economic victories in the disabled community. With the lost of Phil Chavez, another voice has been silenced in the struggle for disabled independence.
DISABLED ELDERS NEED TO TEACH AND PREACH
The Elders and old political leaders of the disabled community are going to have to let that ego go and teach these young ones the secrets of political power and the different strategies used to attain the freedoms the disabled community has today. It is time for disabled elders to teach and preach to the younger crowd.
THAT IS THE GRAY LINE
