> It is a form of discrimination but it is more than that.
>
> I've actually asked prominent people on the Left to review disability
> related matters and have been told "I'm working on more important
> matters." and put it in writing to me!!!! That is what bunches of
> you evidently think because you certainly did not mention disability
> civil rights for years and years and years and years and some still
> do not to this day. The Nation has been horrible on disability, for
> one. Those in charge of the publications had plenty of chances back
> in the 70s when 504 passed to get aboard and then again in 1990 and
> before that when we were trying to eek out some civil rights
> protections in the Americans With Disabilities Act. To this day when
> Lefties mention affordable housing they don't include the word
> accessible. We are still invisible to you. That's one reason so
> many in the disability movement don't identify with the Left. We
> have had to carve out our own political space and become an identity
> group to get anywhere.
Every word you write here is probably true with the exception that this is somehow more than discrimination. I have no reason to doubt any of the rest of it. Most marginalized groups would tell you something similar to this however. Lamenting that your burden is bigger than someone else's doesn't accomplish much even if it is true. It is rather highly subjective so the less time spent worrying about it the better.
> So I have never really understood the omission of our movement by the
> Left political persuasion. Is it hate? Is it thinking that we are
> subhuman and not a worthwhile effort? Is it that crips could not
> possibly do anything for ourselves so you prefer to think of us as in
> need of your care? I cannot tell you how many lefties have grabbed
> the handles of my wheelchair and tried to push me without asking, as
> if they just wanted to take control of my body. I don't need to be
> pushed by anyone, I have a POWER chair, can't these people see that?
This is mostly just self pity talking. Hate? Subhuman? Any marginalized group could again say the same things. Many people are uncomfortable with disabled people around. Perhaps it reminds them of their own shortcomings? Who knows? Screw them and their sensitivities. But saying that someone who is trying to be helpful by pushing your chair is trying to take control of your body is not helpful. You may feel this way. I'm not in a position to know and I wouldn't presume it's my place to legitimate this feeling or not. The fact that you have a power chair may not be clear to everyone though and assuming it is is a recipe for unhappiness.
> I had to plead with Howard Zinn to include the disability rights
> movement in his book PEOPLES HISTORY discussion of social
> movements...he did in the last edition but with no depth to it.
>
> So yes, disabled people ask me all the time why do you bother with
> the Left? They don't give a shit about us, never have, and think
> they know everything.
>
> There it is out in the open. That is the hard core truth of it.
I'm disappointed to hear this about Zinn. I like his work and respect him greatly. Unfortunately there is no easy way to raise peoples consciousness. Lashing out against immigrants is damn sure not the way to do it.
It isn't that I don't think your complaints are real but as I said every group has to struggle with these issues. I can almost guarantee that the feeling amoung many leftists is that disability rights issues are second to many issues because putting in a ramp at a restaurant hardly compares to "insert whatever left cause you want here". All you can do is keep trying to educate people or else give up. Again, lashing out against immigrants will not do much to move disability issues to the front-burner of left activists. When you feel excluded it's up to you to make people uncomfortable doing that. It sucks but that's life.
Personally I feel that migrant workers get more media attention than most Native American issues. The same can be said for health-care. I could probably go through the major media outlets and tally the coverage of migrant workers and NA issues and prove this is so but then what? No point crying about it and no point trying to win gains for NA's at the expense of immigrants. Besides being counterproductive it would probably dump an ass-load of bad juju on my head.
In the last 20 years I have seen more visible gains for disabled persons than I have for NA's. NA's still have to go ask the great white father for permission to change the use of their property. Do you have some bald white guy sitting in an office telling you how you must spend the proceeds when you sell your own property? I bet you don't. Everyone has their own shit to overcome and we'll fare better together than apart.
> And while I am grateful that some people have opened up to acceptance
> of our struggle and published my work and the work of other disabled
> people who politically align themselves with you, you still remain in
> the minority (and in the forefront) of your comrades as far as I can
> see.
>
> Most all left-activist meetings in LA are still held in inaccessible
> locations. An exception to this is that Monthly Review moved its
> meeting from an attic with rickety stairs to the Burns center in
> Santa Monica. Thank you.
>
> Marta
Maybe you could get 10 people in wheelchairs to sit outside where an inaccessible meeting is taking place with signs that bring attention to such a stupid policy. Most leftists I know would hate to appear insensitive to something like this even if they really didn't give a shit. All I can say is that this is part of the struggle but we're all in the struggle together, even if not always equally so. Such is the nature of all human endeavors.
John Thornton