A Fundamental Question: Disability, Fear & How Far Have we really come?

I recently watched the little known film “The Music Within” based on the life of Richard Pimentel one of the great champions of the American with Disabilities Act and a pioneer in employment policy. The film looks at the trajectory of his life from young child dealing with a mentally ill mother to his tour in Vietnam where he lost a good part of his hearing to his journey to becoming a disability activist.
Where Pimentel made his mark was developing the first training manual for hiring people with disabilities called “Tilting at Windmills” in the mid 1970s. This was revolutionary for its time because it shed light on a community that had been ostracized for far too long. It provided government agencies the blueprint to hiring persons with disabilities.
In watching the film I kept thinking to myself even though Pimentel really set the groundwork for the enactment of The American with Disabilities Act how far have we really come in hiring, retaining & creating productive environment for workers with disabilities? In continuing to ponder this question I realized there are some real correlations between the time that Pimentel was working on “Tilting at Windmills” and now. During that time Vietnam vets were returning home many newly disabled and trying to adjust into civilian life find work and just live a productive life. Today in the midst’s of a war in Iraq and Afghanistan there are soldier returning dealing with the same issues as their counterparts did close to forty years ago. We have to begin to ask ourselves the questions, how far have we come in hiring, retaining and developing workers with disabilities. In a post Americans with Disabilities Act era are we any better than we were in the Vietnam era? The simple answer is yes, however, it is never really that cut and dry. There have certainly been strides made since Pimentel’s training manual was published and the enactment of the ADA but with a shifting demographic and most business inability to grasp that these types of hiring practices is not just but about good will but rather a valued business decision that will have a tremendous ripple effect far beyond this much continued parochial view point that still persists about the disability community it is only then that we will make strides. A universal design model that shows what is good for people with disabilities in fact impacts society as a whole.
We must continue the work that Pimentel started and create new opportunities that show we are not just limiting this to a disability issue but rather a see it as a human one.

Politics, Disability & The Cult of Personality

Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister of Britian and more recently Governor of New York David Patterson are two political figures who are disabled and have been very vocal about saying so. I guess the first question that comes to mind is can this by a viable political tool or is this a product of 'Identity Politics' that is pervasive across western society. The fact is that while the argument can be made concerning both I believe there is a third alternative. That is humanizing disability - showing that through ones inconviences it does not impact ones ability to do the task at hand but just as important is the ability to unite people under a common understanding of a human expierence. After hearing Patterson's speech a few weeks ago based on his own expierence with disability he humanized the concept of reaching out to the disenfranchized and has an innate capacity to see the synergy.

Spasms....

Spasms have dominated my life for the past several weeks. The winter in the North East with the shifting weather patterns have always made my physical life tough. The physical pain can be grueling and has made my daily life tough to handle over the past few weeks which are the reason I haven’t posted. Thankfully back in the saddle and will be blogging again real soon!

Aging, Disability & A Global Policy

We are at a critical moment in human history. With an age revolution both developed nations and the developing world need to take a new look at aging and disability like never before. This must become a critical component of the fabric of any nation’s public policy and its impact on everything from employment to education is profound. After the spending several days at the United Nations 46th Session of the Commission on Social Development sitting in on events discussing areas from active aging, employment to emergency preparedness it has become evident that the social understanding of aging and disability must be reassessed based upon not only regional cultural understanding but as a human rights issues that resonates on a global level.
I have spent the last several years looking at certain types of disability issues and its impact on a micro level focusing on the personal issues and the dynamics that go along with that. I do believe that we need truly find the link between the fundamental issues that one faces on a micro level and see how to take these elements to perfect public policy on a macro level. Often times there are a top down approach & we don’t find the middle ground, or the connection between the individual and society.

Going forward one of my goals is to make that connection between the needs of the individual with that of the larger society. Now, we go forward!

A Virtual Universe : Disability , Employment & The Future of The Job Interview

We are in a virtual age, the internet has redefined how we live , work and play. It is creating a whole new cultural landscape of how we conduct our lives to such a degree that essential part of our dailyt existence. For people with disabilities this new 'virtul universe' has opened up a plethora of opportunities providing access to new possibilities that was not avaliable previously. One of these new access points is the job interview. Companies like TMP Worldwide is using the platform of Second Life, an online social networking community that uses 3D graphics to create a fully integrated virtual community where individuals and businesses can connect with one another. This platform is growing in popularity by leaps and bounds to the point where millions of dollars are being spent on the site on a monthly basis. Companies as diverse as Cisco Systems to Major League Baseball have made there presence known. Even universities like Stamford and John Hopkins are providing seminars on Second Life.

What makes this type of platform valuable for people with disabilities isa virtual access to major corporations which can lead to eventual jobs in the 'real' world. But by being using this accessible enviornment to conduct interviews, connect with business leaders TMP Worldwide is creating a new paradigm by which people with disabilities can gain access to the job market. Now, there are still a lot of hurdles to be overcome but this a huge leap foward in progress.

Politics & People with Disabilities

We are in the heart of the 2008 Presidential Race. With 2 contests in Iowa and New Hampshire complete the question I have is what are the issues on the table for disabled voters. Questions of healthcare, the economy are certainly at the top of the list. But what other hot button issues do voters with disabilities want to discuss but more importantly- WHAT CANDIDATE IS CATERING TO THE NEEDS OF DISABLED VOTERS.While the disabled community in many ways is still a fragmented community seperated by the type of disability or diagnosis there is still a shared understanding of the challenges & struggles of living with a disability as well as the barriers that are still rampant in this country that have discriminated against people with disabilities in the employment arena, the healthcare system, transportation that are really get to the core of one's own civil rights as a citizen in this country. There are shared expierences that build this community ( or one can see that connection) It is important that we as a community take that shared identity - even with the differences and bring that to the ballot box. So which candidate will truly stand up and stand out for the millions of disabled voters in America...I still this verdict is out on this one!

Final Post of 2007- What To Expect in 2008!

This is my final post of 2007, while it has been a relativley good year I am excited about 2008 and writing my continued thoughts and ideas about disability and aging issues on this blog. In '08 my hope is to broach such issues as the ADA Restoration Act and really evaluate what that means for the disability community in the United States. I also want to look at a revolutionry idea originally concieved by Professor Ruth O' Brien stating that the ADA is not just teh most import civil rights law of the 20th Century, but infact, it is piece of legislation that can truly humanize capatalism "by turning employees into care-givers, creating an ethic of care in the workplace". So taking the ADA from a narrow civil rights law to a larger labor law is critical BUT what needs to be further discussed is "the culture" of work and how can we as a society actually find the tipping point to make what O'Brien discusses a re al reality - BUT just as important make areal business case to make this a real reality. Other areas I hope to explore in the blog in the coming year are questions of Genomics and Disability Rights. At the dawn of the 21st Century we are clearly at the starting point of a new age. Even though we have had the human gene sequenced for the past decade there are larger philosophical, cultural and social questions that we need to look at as it relates to personhood. While the argument can be made that wiping out disease is a noble and valuable cause, there are larger questions at hand such as what does this mean for people with disabilities as a valued people in society and will genomics be a precursor to Eugenics. While that may seem drastic these are questions that need to be addressed.

2008 will be an interesting year with many areas to explore...I will see you all next year! Happy Holidays!