Stop Complaining...Organize!!!

Stop complaining…organize!

The American with Disabilities Act is 35 years old! We need to celebrate it and be prepare to defend it. As opinions about equal access shift, as programs and services for people with disabilities continue to erode, is the ADA relevant today? What do access, equity, inclusion, and diversity mean in the context of the ADA? These words should not be controversial. Ask yourself, can a person who is blind get a job if they need JAWS to read text? Can a person using a wheelchair get onto a bus? Can a person who is Deaf order a pizza using the video relay service? What about accessible bathrooms when I go shopping? And getting a quieter place to deal with my anxiety disorder should be a given accommodation. These are all examples of what the ADA covers. It boils down to providing access and equity to people with disabilities so that they can be included, and become participants in diverse communities.
So, yes, the ADA is relevant today. Equity is not anything additional or special. It just accommodates different ways to experience employment, transportation, communication, and public access.

Today, I ask if you believe that a person with a disability who wants to work should have the same access as other non-disabled peers. Do you believe children with disabilities should have the right to an education, so that they can eventually get jobs? Do you believe that it is easier for all of us to be in community together, and help each other when needed? Or do you think that all people with disabilities should be warehoused in an institution, looked after by minimum wage employees who care little about them, and in some case, leave them to die? It would ease the imagined burden to society.

We as people with disabilities have a right to be part of society. If you are a person with a disability or if you are Deaf or have family members with disabilities, what are you willing to do to make sure that our rights, our access to society, are preserved? Will you attend a few rallies and marches? Will you call on your legislators, and share your stories with friends and families in other states? How about taking legal action against the government’s cuts to Medicaid, access to education and transportation? Will you forego the five-dollar mocha latte and donate that money to an organization that is fighting for those rights?

The ADA did not happen overnight. It took decades of organizing, calling legislators, the Capital crawl, sit-ins, marches, rallies, and protests.

My questions to you may sound simple, but take a moment and think them through. Make the choice to follow your beliefs. Decide what you’re willing to do. Complaining to one another is not action…we need to organize, and take action!
Here are a couple of opportunities to take action: The Boston ADA35 event happening on July 23rd https://www.boston.gov/calendar/ada-35-boston and the Stavros Rock, Roll & Gather event happening on August 2nd at noon in Look Park. Both events will celebrate the disability community, and provide opportunities to connect and organize, to preserve the rights of people with disabilities. Join us!

Angelina Ramirez

Stavros CEO