As I reflect on 47 years of having a disability and how far
people say we have come as a disabled community, I realize we have truly not
come that far. Yes, we now have wheelchair parking spots, wider door ways, International
Day of Disabled Persons that says we exist on December 3rd each year,
and people are now becoming interested in the Para Olympics more. However, the truth is having a disability is
like participating in a dance class. We seem to take one step forward and two
back in anything we do.
The disabled
community operates in silos against each other, depending on their disability,
rather then working together toward a common goal. This works for society. As
long as we are fight amongst ourselves, how can we expect main stream society
to take our issues seriously, when as a community we can not identify a common
issue together? This slogan “Nothing
About us Without Us” is nothing more then a warm fuzzy feel good catch phrase
that belongs on a ten dollar T-shirt or should have been the title of a 80s
after school TV special.
The real truth is we
should take some lessons and learn from members of the LGTBQ community. They
work together toward solving a problem and see their issues through to a
positive conclusion. The LGTBQ community
has made great advances in equality and celebrates their accomplishments with Pride
week and a parade. The closest the
disable community gets is, a day once a year, which lets everyone know we are
disabled. The celebration ends in just a few hours with a nice light lunch.
So as 2016 comes to a close, I put a challenge out to the
disabled community. Let’s make 2017 the year we destroy the silos and work
together as a united community toward some positive successes. We need to make
everyday a day to be proud to have a disability. I also think its time we had our own parade. I put out this challenge to Rachel Notley and
Justin Trudeau. Come sit in a wheelchair
and wheel in our parade, because DAM IT, WE ARE HERE, WE ARE DISABLED AND WE
ARE DONE NOT BEING HEARD.
