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They had personally experienced what happens when an entire country chooses not to see something simply because it is not what they wish to see. As a result, they never accepted anything at face value. When something doesn’t feel right, they taught us, you must question it—whether
Not only were we not required to participate in the American system of education; we were actually blocked from it and hidden away in the basement.
I recognize now that exclusion, especially at the level and frequency at which I experienced it, is traumatic.
We were beginning to see our lack of access as a problem with society, rather than our individual problem. From our perspective, disability was something that could happen to anyone at any time, and frequently did, so it was right for society to design its infrastructure and systems around this fact of life.
people with disabilities do face discrimination, and if we take the time to fight, we may win.
When other people see you as a third-class citizen, the first thing you need is a belief in yourself and the knowledge that you have rights.
No otherwise qualified handicapped individual in the United States, as defined in section 7(6), shall, solely by reason of his handicap, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.
“When you see me, I hope that you see what is possible, where others saw only what was not possible.
Not only is it outrageous to blame the needs of disabled children for the problems of the American school system, but also Sessions was clearly implying that the education of children with disabilities was not of equal priority with the education of other children.
“You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.”
When whole groups of people become segregated from others in our society, it weakens the fabric of our democracy.
Distance and segregation are breeding grounds for failures of understanding and empathy and ultimately injustice and the denial of others’ rights.
