The Voiceless Minority

 The movie-going experience has been part of American life for decades now. At the same time, being disabled has also been a part of the human experience since the beginning of time. This piece will address the idea that although we are thirty-four years into the ADA era, movie theaters in Ocala, Florida, demonstrate how little respect people with disabilities have earned in thirty-four years. Over the weekend, I was treating my friend/caregiver, who I will call Jane, on a trip to the movies for her 24 th birthday. She was nice enough to not only drive my van for only the 10 th time since she started working with me but also because my power wheelchair broke several weeks ago and there was a delay in the delivery process of my new chair; she was willing to push me around. The first of many problems we encountered that day occurred when we got to the front door. It was only then we noticed that even though disabled people do go to places by themselves without caregivers or attendant

Hello again, yes it’s me your friendly neighborhood super advocate. A warm welcome to all of my new readers who are checking out the blog for the first time. I want to welcome you to a friendly, engaging, informative, and sometimes funny look at anything and everything that has to do with disabilities and the disability community. To all my returning readers, welcome back. No matter which group you fall into, you’ve stumbled upon the Voiceless Minority on a very special day. Yes, it has finally happened after a decade of writing this blog - today marks the 100th post for the Voiceless Minority. I could not have done it without you. I started this blog as an outlet for my anger and the hurt I was feeling after being denied the opportunity to follow what I truly believed at the time was my passion. When I started this blog, I thought I wanted to be a high school history teacher and teach theater after school. I apparently didn’t know myself as well as I thought. They say that “things hap

Disability pioneer Judy Heumann passed away this past weekend. Since my blog focuses on disability related issues I would be doing you my readers a great disservice if I did not write a piece on the late Judy Heumann, without whom this blog may not even exist.  Judith ”Judy” Heumann was born on December 18th 1947 in Philadelphia and raised in Brooklyn. She contracted Polio at the age of two. Fortunately for her, her parents did not subscribe to the popular theory on people with disabilities at the time. When the doctors suggested she be institutionalized because there was “no way she will ever walk” her parents chose not to listen.  Miss Heumann began her advocacy work in the 70’s when she fought the New York board of education over the right to teach in a classroom. She would eventually win the battle and become the first teacher with a disability in New York. Her advocacy efforts would soon reach far beyond New York.  In 1975 Ed Roberts asked Judy to move to California and join in th

             It’s funny what you find on the Internet. It’s been a while since I’ve written anything because I’ve been busy reading and writing a book, but today I came across something noteworthy. As many of you know, I recently graduated with my masters who have followed this blog. You may not know that I have been planning to move from my Pennsylvania home to a home in Florida.             The home is currently being built, so as far as a physical structure, I will have an accessible place to live, but moving is never simple when you are non-disabled, much less when you are disabled. Because I require so much physical care, I use at home health services to provide that care. I use these services to avoid going into a group home or a nursing home. These services fall under what is known as home and community-based services.             As of today, there are no uniformed national standards for home and community-based care services. Each state can set its criteria as

Okay, so usually I don’t write two in a day, but something has been on my mind lately, and the blog I posted earlier wasn’t an original piece of writing. Instead, it was forwarding an inspirational story. So here’s my daily food for thought.        I warn you that this blog may unsettle some, and it may make you uncomfortable. The un-comfortableness will come from the overuse of swear words or a sexual conversation. It might come from looking at “ourselves” (society in general) in the near. Some of you may not like what you see if you are honest with yourself.         I am two and a half weeks away from finishing my Master’s Degree at my school in  Northwestern, Pennsylvania. As I complete this round of my academic work, I am forced to reflect. For the last nineteen years of my life, give or take a semester or two, I have been on the “right path.” We all are required in the end states to enroll in 12 years of compulsory education. After that, different paths can emerge depending on

  Today was the first of two hearings on the Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities conducted by the United States Foreign Relations Committee. The hearing went for approximately two and a half hours. Both sides of the issue were equally given time to present their argument. Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey did a fine job proceeding over the hearings.         My the previous blog laid out my position on the treaty as well as the position of approximately twenty-six prominent disabled organizations in the U.S. As I sat and watched the hearings that were broadcast life on C-Span something struck me. Regardless of where one falls in regards to the treaty, the disabled community can only see the hearings as a positive. Not since 1990 has the disabled community’s needs been put front and center. Twenty + years ago this quiet segment of society was given a voice and a great voice that allowed such platforms like this blog to exist.         Amongst all the d