FDR

Note: Since my disablity, dyslexia, is a hidden one, I have decided not to spell check my blog post this week so that people can gain an insight into a part of my exspernce with disablity. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

I really enjoyed the trip to the FDR Memorial. While I had seen the Memorial before and really liked how it was layed out and structured. I was able take it in through new eyes with the help of Jim Dickson and his stories of the demonstrations which helped to garentee that FDR’s disability was part of the memorial. It was wonderful to hear the story of the advocacy process surrounding the Memorial. I was particularly fasincated by the role chance played in some of the successes of the disability demonstrations. I wonder how many times it is mistakes on the side of the powers that be, rather then successes from the oposition, that really decide things. Of course, it is a combination of the two. The oposition has to be able to identify opertunity to exsploit the mistakes made by those in power and to make use of them in a way that untilizes their full potential.

The story of the Memorial is also a good remender that as a movement, we are still fighting for a seat at the table. The fact that the disability movement was not considered a meaningful constituatnacey at the beggingin of the Monument planning process, even just considering modern assesiblity standards, is shocking. But further, the notion that the monument committee should use FDR’s choice to hide his disability as a reason to not showcase it really surprised me. Spending so much time at AAPD and at the National Council on Disability has made me forget what a unsung issue disablility rights continues to be in our society.