Disability Pride Month

 

I was 7/1/23 old when I learned that July is designated Disability Pride month.  We even have a flag, and I like it very much. The link explains the different colors and why it’s in the form of a lightning bolt. I especially like the concept of learning to work around the obstacles of living with disabilities.

I wondered what was so special about July. When I investigated, I smacked myself on the head. I should have known better. In July 1990 President George H.W. Bush signed the American With Disabilities Act (ADA) into law. I’d advocated for it; how could I have forgotten?

I was a teen and young adult when legislation finally began to pass recognizing the rights and equality of those living with disabilities. These laws included: the 1973 Vocational Rehabilitation Act Sections 503 and 504 (outlawing discrimination against people with disabilities in education and work), PL 94-142 Education For All Children Act (providing education for all in the “least restrictive environment’), and, finally, the ADA.

So, what is the difference between the VR Act of 1973 and the ADA? Basically, the VR Act applied to federal agencies and those institutions receiving federal funds. The ADA is applied everywhere regardless of whether a company or institution receives federal funds.

My parents were Deaf. By the time the VR Act of 1973 was passed, they were already in their 40s. They did benefit from it in that they could request an interpreter in certain situations. Another boon coming out of it was closed captioning. Now they could finally understand many of the programs they’d been missing out on, particularly the news.

PL 94-142 ensured that kids with disabilities could be educated with their peers instead of being segregated or sent to institutions. The process was called mainstreaming. Deaf students had more choices of colleges and universities to attend. Interpreters would be supplied for them.

Most of my 20+ years of interpreting for the Deaf were in the field of education. I interpreted for elementary, middle, and high school students mostly. This is just my opinion but after seeing the fact that the Deaf kids were isolated from their hearing peers, I no longer believed that mainstreaming provided the least restrictive environment for these kids. I began advocating transfer to schools for the Deaf, where the students would be among peers and could learn their native language and culture. For all other students, who could hear, mainstreaming is definitely the best way to go.

When the ADA became law, I began interpreting in so many other forums: workshops, employee training or meetings, doctors’ offices, hospital ERs, and mental health facilities. The ADA was the civil rights act for people with disabilities.

When I was an interpreter, my fingers were straight and long. Deaf clients complimented me on them. My signs were clear and easy to understand. I played an acoustic guitar and played barre chords with ease. During those years, I saw my mother’s fingers become crippled with arthritis. She was in a great deal of pain as her fingers became knobby and twisted. It hurt to see her become increasingly unwilling to use her hands.

Now I see my own fingers twisting and becoming knobby. Today they hurt like the dickens. I have both rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. I gave up one of my favorite activities because it became too difficult to enjoy: playing the guitar. My fingers won’t form a simple chord, never mind stretch to make a barre chord.

But that’s OK. The lightning shape of the disability pride flag relates to making the necessary adjustments. On the days I can’t hold a fork properly to cut my food, I grasp it in my left fist and saw away with the knife with my right. I use my computer to write 90% of everything instead of handwriting.

I have arthritis in joints throughout my body. Some days, between arthritis and fibromyalgia, everything is hard. I move slower on those days, but I don’t stop. I take a nap if I need to.

I have dysthymia and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Thanks to therapy and medications that work, I don’t have so many deep dark days. When I do, I’ve learned how to get through them. I don’t suffer from panic attacks anymore.

I’ve applied to get a bachelor’s from Rowan University. Thanks to the VR Act of 1973 and the ADA, I know I can receive accommodations. I can ask for a notetaker. I can ask for a longer time to take a test. I can answer test essay questions on a computer.

I am much more than a medical diagnosis or the prescriptions I take. I am a person with different abilities, those I’ve had from birth and those I’ve incorporated to get around obstacles. I am proud to claim the disability pride flag.

 

We Need To...

 

Yesterday, the majority of corrupted Supreme Court justices further undermined the Constitution by making shitty decisions about our fundamental rights. Those protections in the 14^th Amendment disallow discrimination against anyone for any reason.

In the bad old days, there weren’t any federal “teeth” to this amendment.  That’s why the southern states, post-Civil War, continued to discriminate against and suppress people of color. That’s why Jim Crow laws were allowed to pass. That’s why segregation continued.

Now it seems that the Rethuglicans and the six ultra-right-wing fascist-leaning Supreme Court justices would like to return us to those days. White power!

It’s maddening that the Democratic party doesn’t respond to all this treachery. Where is the outcry? The only voices I see speaking up are the minority justices on the Supreme Court, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Senator Elizabeth Warren, and Senator Bernie Sanders. Where are my NJ senators, especially Cory Booker? Why isn’t Rep. Andy Kim speaking up?

Finally, President Biden is at least beginning to criticize what’s going on. He’s said Congressional Rethuglican efforts are semi-fascist. He says he doesn’t agree with expanding the Supreme Court but, at least, he says it is not normal.

During the Obama administration, there was a lot of racial ugliness. The Obamas responded, “when they go low, we go high.”

It seems like that’s the strategy the Democrats have been using since tRump was elected.  There has been very little outcry from our Democratic leaders for years in spite of all the evil practices and laws passed by MAGAT Representatives, Senators and Governors.  To continue being silent in the face of the crap the Rethuglicans are pulling now seems cowardly to me. It reminds me of how the Wehrmacht stayed silent and tried to appease Hitler in a “maybe he’ll get satisfied and go away” ploy. We know what happened.

Going high by staying silent is counterproductive now. Why can’t we go high without being nasty? Go high but defend our rights? Why aren’t our leaders doing more to protect our rights? Why are the only Congressional voices speaking up now the progressives? Where are the moderates? They represent us too. Why are the only two Republicans to speak up Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney? Any other decent-minded Repub (if any left) are quaking in their boots that tRump might primary them if they speak up.

Why must this work be left in the hands of advocacy groups like those in the LGBTQ community, Black community and activists like Rev. William J. Barber II?  Here is a story about anactivist group that isn’t giving up the fight for equality in spite of the fact SCOTUS seems determined to quash it.  There are many other activists and groups speaking up.

Why aren't our representatives listening and acting? I’m fed up with complacency.

After SCOTUS dumped its latest crappy decisions, my son Bill Rademacher wrote this poem expressing his own frustration:

“They go low and we go high,”

The courageous battle cry

Of the spineless from the sky

As their tower falls downward.

They take you out at the knees,

Deafened to all of the pleas

While the defenders all freeze,

Bravely led by a coward.

Danger reared its ugly head,

Bravely turned their tails and fled

Seized moral high ground instead

While charges drowned in red tide.

It’s not contradictory,

Be now benedictory,

We have moral victory!

We have the right on our side!

But we haven’t got the Right,

The Right will put up a fight,

And cowards fall from their height,

Foundation broken below.

They see our fear of seeming

With hypocrisy teaming

So they set themselves scheming,

Thus “they go high, we go low!”

They consider what hurts worst,

Make sure to do unto first,

And unleash rhetoric versed,

“They will now do this to us!”

Knowing that we won’t stoop down.

“They go low and we go high,”

So we bravely heave a sigh,

And say “well at least we try,”

As the tower crashes down.

If only I could imbed

Before another retread,

If, when they go low, instead,

We gave a kick…

 

People, we need to wake up. If any of these decisions bother you at all, contact your representatives and let them know. And if your representatives are Democrats, say you want them to start speaking the fuck up against these Rethuglican machinations to take away our rights.

Do you think it won’t happen to you? Think again.

 

 

Day 25: Rolling on the River

 The first time I remember seeing Tina Turner sing was on a variety show (can’t remember which one). It was about 1971 and I was 16. Instead of starting to sing, however, Tina Turner came up to the mike and began to speak. At the same time, Ike Turner began strumming chords on his guitar. I recognized it right away and was dismayed. My favorite band at the time was Creedence Clearwater Revival, and this was their song.

But Tina’s voice compelled my attention. Sometimes, she said, she liked to sing a song nice and easy. Sometimes she liked to sing it rough. She stated she was going to sing the first part nice and easy, but then she was going to sing it nice and rough. She began to sing “Proud Mary.”

I liked her voice. She had feelings even though it was “nice and easy.” Yeah, I thought, but she’s not the Fogartys. Nice cover, I thought, but …

And then the music picked up and so did she. I could feel myself moving with this new, rocking beat. She was dancing too, and she was magnificent.

When the song was over, I thought it is her song now.

She had a secret similar to the secret I carried, yet it was different. I lived in a house with domestic violence but hadn’t been a victim of it in years. It left its scars though. She was a direct victim of DV. It was a shock. I never would have suspected it. But that’s a skill we learn early: how to hide that it’s happening. I am sure it left scars on her too.

She came back, though, and in such a strong way that she’s called the Queen of Rock and Roll. She is a strong role model for all females from 5 to 105.  She had so many hit songs over the next years, and each one seemed better than the other. And oh my, her energy! I saw film clips of her in concert in her later years. She was in heels, not losing her balance and tripping, and dancing as well and as energetically as the kids around her. I watched her onstage doing an across-the-stage line dance with these young women and I couldn’t tell one from the other.

Dan Rather wrote a very nice piece about Tina Turner and, in it, he shared three of her clips. Visit and watch those videos. They’ll get you up and moving.

I love all of Tina Turner’s songs. This one is a favorite that Mr. Rather didn’t include. She was in a movie with Mel Gibson way back when called Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. I am so moved by her rendition of “We Don’t Need Another Hero.” 

Another favorite is “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” 

And because 3 is my lucky number, I’m sharing a new favorite video. It’s beautiful.   I can almost hear them doing this duet together in Rock and Roll Heaven. God bless, Tina Turner. I’ll miss you, but I’ll always have your music to listen to.

I am participating in the American Cancer Society’s challenge to write for thirty minutes each day in May. I do a lot of writing and I can meet this challenge. I plan to make a blog entry each day with what I’ve written.

I wanted to participate in memory of loved ones who fought cancer bravely but succumbed:

My brother-in-law Jeff

My sister-in-law Ann

My dear friend Kay

My Uncle Bob

My Uncle John

 

I also wanted to help raise money to support research and a cure for those currently fighting this vicious disease.

My Facebook to the fundraiser is here. 

Thank you to all who wish to support the American Cancer Society this month.