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Well, to begin with, I'm here at the Jefferson Memorial for my book-talk
Here we are at the history museum where I am going to teach you about my Uncle Max's life's work.
"ADA" is a law that was passed 20 years ago. It made it
It made it illegal to discriminate
(against) people with disabilities.
Imagine yourself with a disability: anything.
Uh, your legs~you can't move your legs (you're 'paraplegic'); you're blind; or you're deaf...
Or 'quadraplegic', which is arms and legs.
Alright, so, people tried to hide their disability so they would not be discriminated [against].
Here's this pearl necklace, the one up there; this one.
This woman tried to hide her disabilities by having a necklace
and her her hearing [aid] in her ear.
with a little battery pack, right here.
My Aunt and Uncle founded ParaQuad because they wanted everybody~EVERYBODY~
to be able to do all kinds of things like my Uncle Max.
They wanted to have a job, have kids, and do anything, well, that you and me can do.
These people are climbing up these stairs because there are no lifts,
no elevators to get up.
But, before we go~this has nothing to do with it, but
my grandpa, great-grandfather designed the ceiling and the seal
You blind yourself from all the things they CAN do.
My Uncle Max, he was a Father. He was a painter.
He was the founder of ParaQuad. He could paint.
This is my Uncle Max.
Uncle Max got out of his van. But to get in, he didn't take the steps.
He came this way...and said hi to his dog. This is my Aunt Colleen, wife of Uncle Max. Colleen: Hi Liam! Liam: Hi, I have a few questions for you.
Colleen: Sure. First of all I want to tell you I'm really happy and proud of you that you're doing a little story about your Uncle Max because he was a very, very, very a great man.
Liam: Yes, he was. Alright, what are Max's biggest accomplishments?
Well, Uncle Max made life better for lots of people around the world, a lot of whom don't even know what he did.
You know those curb cuts that you see at the corner when you can go up on your bicycle
and you don't have to step up the curb? Liam: Yep.
Colleen: And have you ever seen lifts on buses?
Liam: MmHmm. Colleen: Wheelchair lifts, so people who use wheelchairs can get on buses? Liam: Yep.
And also, the Metro-link train?
That's all accessible because of Uncle Max.
But also, homes. People in wheelchairs can get in.
People who are deaf and who are blind can't be treated badly because
of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Have you ever heard of that?
Liam: Yep. Colleen: OK, Uncle Max had a whole lot to do with all that, so he had a lot of major accomplishments.
All the things Uncle Max did made life better for people who are disabled.
And I also understand you tried to make your house as accessible as you could.
Yes we did. Did you see the ramp in the back? Did you see the elevator? Did you show your friends that?
Liam: Uh, we will have to do that after I'm done with the questions. Col: And we can show them the lift on Uncle Max's van? Those are just some of the things we did.
Liam: What presidents did he meet? Uncle Max and I went to the inauguration of President Ronald Reagan.
We met President Jimmy Carter and worked hard to get him elected President. And we also met President President Clinton and his wife, Mrs. Clinton, who is now Secretary of State.
We also met President Obama, before he was President. Liam: Wow!
But you know what's important about that? When you know people who make laws, like the Presidents do,
and they understand what you care about, they help you make the world a better place by changing the laws.
That's why we got to know them. Liam: Alright. That's a good thing to know. Why was he accepted at the White House? Colleen: Why was he accepted at the White House?
Well, first of all, the Presidents began to think that people with disabilities were an important group to care about. So they welcomed people who were leaders, like Uncle Max, to the White House, to learn more about how those Presidents could help people who were disabled.
And we're not just talking about people who use wheelchairs, ya know. That's people who are blind, and people who are deaf, kids who have disabilities,
older people who are going to become disabled and they don't know that yet. All those people benefited from the kind of work your Uncle Max did.
Liam: What should you do if you meet someone with a disability?
Colleen: First of all you should never treat them like they're odd or weird.
Just like you wouldn't want somebody to treat you like you were strange or odd if you had
2 different colored eyes or if you walked with a limp,
or had a different way of speaking. So you should always say, "Hi, how are you? My name is Liam,"
or "My name is whatever,"
and just be nice to them. Just like you would want them to treat you.
Liam: Golden Rule.
Treat others how you want to be treated. Colleen: That's exactly right.
Liam: How are things different because of Uncle Max?
Colleen: Well you know when Uncle Max and I started dating Liam
you didn't ever see anybody
with a disability, very much, out in public. So now, when you go to malls,
do you ever see people in a wheelchair there? Or do you notice people signing with their hands? Or do you notice people who
use a cane? Or they're blind and they have a dog with them? Liam: Yes.
Colleen: Well, the world's changed because before you were born,
that wasn't very common.
But now you see people who have some kind of disability
and they're working, they're parents, they're out in the malls, they go to movies...
they do all the kinds of things that you like to do.
So that's how the world has changed for the better.
Liam: What did you and Uncle Max do after ParaQuad?
Colleen: Well, we left ParaQuad in 2003 because even though
the world was better for people with disabilities,
still people don't accept people who have a disability.
Still, they treat people 'funny'.
Treat them different. And that's not right.
So we started the Starkloff Disability Institute to change people's attitudes about people who have disability.
[Time Code: 08:24] Liam: This is how he [Max] got outside to go to work. Pretty cool, huh!?