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Here's an easy access ramp for a place of business. And here's a bus with a wheelchair
lift. If you were disabled and lived in New York City what more could you ask for other
than ... you know, not to be handicapped. What people with disabilities are asking for
are the same things that everyone else pretty much takes for granted.
Lawrence Carter-Long, Network Coordinator, Disabilities Network of NYC. We want meaningful
work. We want to be able to go to the shopping mall. Or to the movies. Or to the theatre.
With our friends. But as long as the environment doesn't allow us to do that we don't get to
partake in both the benefits or the burdens of society.
And as for Lawrence he was born with cerebral palsy and he sees that as a political issue
too. People with disabilities have a saying "Nothing
About Us Without Us" Well sure, disabled people are people. Most
people don't want decisions about their lives made for by others.
I think there is a tendency to patronize people with disabilities. You can either be treated
like a child or an idiot. Here's another example of ADA craziness.
Most people are not aware that if you've got a disability finding a simple thing like a
taxi cab is a real pain in the ***. There are about 13,000 taxis in New York City but
only 29 of them are wheelchair accessible. Lawrence, New York City is the exception not
the rule. American cities have made countless accomodations for the handicapped. Remember
all the ADA mandates? Even Lawrence admits if you push him. But don't.
If you enact a law, a feel good law, where politicians can stand in the rose garden of
the White House and feel good about themselves without properly understanding what the needs
of the people you're proporting to serve are, you're going to run into problems.
Word, brother!