By DENNIS B. FRADIN
A free-lance writer residing in Evanston,
he has published stories and articles
in The Saturday Evening Post,
Scholastic, and the Chicago Sun-Times.
He attended Northwestern University on
a creative writing scholarship and
graduated in 1967.
An emerging minority:
Handicapped citizens
The first conference in
America organized
by handicapped people
met in Chicago last winter.
'They came to find out
what rights they have.
And they came to draw up
a list of suggestions
and demands
for Illinois lawmakers'
BEETHOVEN, Michael Dunn, Franklin Roosevelt, and Monty Stratton —
what do they have in common? All were
physically handicapped. Beethoven was
deaf. Michael Dunn was a midget who
became a well-known actor. FDR was
crippled by polio at the age of 39. And
Monty Stratton was a baseball player
who pitched in the major leagues with
an artificial leg.
When we think of the handicapped we
may remember Helen Keller, Ray
Charles and other spectacular successes.
Or we think of pathetic cases — the
blind beggars and poor souls who weave
baskets in institutions. There are half a
million physically handicapped people
in Illinois. Few of these people are
interested in pitching major league
baseball or weaving baskets. Most
would like to function in the mainstream of modern life — work, go
shopping, eat in restaurants, and do
everything else that "normal" people do.
Laws for protection
There are laws that prohibit discrimination against the handicapped. But it
is often difficult for the handicapped to
obtain justice. How can you prove that
someone won't employ you because
you're deaf or blind? Some federal laws
benefit the handicapped. For instance,
all new federal buildings must be
designed to be accessible to handicapped persons. The Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 states that —
wherever federal funds are used —
contractors must take "affirmative
action" to hire handicapped individuals.
However, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — which says that it is unlawful to
discriminate against people because of
race, color, religion, sex or nationality — makes no mention of handicapped people.
Finally, it is the laws of individual
states which most affect handicapped persons. In Illinois, a wealth of laws
"protect" the handicapped. Like other
minority groups, the handicapped are
beginning to realize that they must learn
how to fight for the implementation of
existing anti-discrimination laws and
fight for other needed laws.
First conference of handicapped
This past winter, the first Illinois
Conference of Handicapped Citizens
was held at the LaSalle Hotel in
Chicago. Financed by the Governor's
Committee on the Handicapped, this
was the first conference in America that
was organized by handicapped people.
Handicapped citizens came from all
over the state. They came to attend
workshops on education, employment,
transportation, and consumerism. They
came to find out what rights they have.
And they came to draw up a list of
suggestions and demands for Illinois lawmakers.
"We want answers and solutions! The
goal of this conference is action!" So
went the discussion. Five hundred
people attended and applauded the
opening speeches. The deaf sat in front
so they could read the signs given by the
interpreters. People in wheelchairs were
scattered throughout the room. An
elderly lady wearing a "SENIOR
POWER" button sat with her guide
dog. A "C.P."—a woman afflicted with
cerebral palsy — guided a blind man to a chair.
Call for action
Between the speeches Brucetta Alford
had a few minutes to talk. Brucetta
Alford was crippled by polio at the age
of four. Despite the fact that she has not
walked for 29 years, she has spent a total
of one day feeling sorry for herself. That
was at a family picnic when she couldn't
play baseball. She worked for a while as
a newspaper reporter before taking a
June 1976 / Illinois Issues / 9
 |
maternity leave. Now she is employed
by the Governor's Committee on the
Handicapped. She was one of the seven
handicapped people from various organizations who were instrumental in
planning the conference.
"What do most people think when
they hear the word 'handicapped'?"
asked the red-haired Brucetta. "They
think of someone who is defective,
dependent, a burden. That's just what
we don't want to be. In fact, many of us
prefer the term 'disabled.' In our culture
if you don't look like Raquel or Redford, you're no one. Most people don't
even like to think of the disabled as
people. They picture a thing. A white
cane, crutches, or a wheelchair. Have
you ever known a handicapped person
— someone in school? Did the other
kids even talk to him? Then there's all
the myths — like if you're crippled or
deaf that means you've lost your mind,
too. People will talk to me like I'm a
vegetable just because I'm in this
wheelchair. Here, we are going to put
our collective anger to good use!"
|
Of the 500,000 disabled people in Illinois there are 100,000 deaf citizens,
and a third as many blind people. Before
the age of 65, one-fourth of all Americans will be permanently disabled. This
includes people suffering from heart
disease, emphysema, and rheumatoid
arthritis, as well as disabled veterans. It
must be remembered that for every
person who attended the conference
there are hundreds languishing in state
and charitable institutions.
Hollis Hawkins, a disabled veteran,
is not languishing. He was crippled in
1944, when he was 18 years old. The
cause of his disability was a spinal tap
that somehow went wrong while he was
in the service. Hawkins is now the
architectural barriers chairman for the
Paralyzed Veterans Association. Architectural barriers are the things — like
stairs, revolving doors, and escalators
— that keep disabled people from
getting from place to place. "There are
laws governing the construction of new
buildings," said Hawkins. "But you'd be
surprised how few are accessible to the
handicapped."
Accessibility of buildings
In fact, there is a state law governing
accessibility — the Facilities For the
Handicapped Act of 1967. This law
provides that new buildings be constructed so as to be accessible to the
handicapped, and that remodeled buildings be made accessible. However, new
buildings have gone up which violate
this law. In fact, the LaSalle Hotel
(remodeled in 1946) and the McCormick Inn are the only two hotels in
Chicago where this conference could
have been held.
On the street, curbs are the greatest
barrier for people in wheelchairs. You
may have seen ramps on some curbs.
They make it possible for people in
wheelchairs to glide down and up the
curbs. The Curb Ramp Law (P. A. 78-322) provides that all new curbs and all
reconstructed curbs be ramped. But as
far as reconstruction is concerned, it could take hundreds of years before
existing curbs wear out and are replaced
with ramped curbs. Out of 9,000 miles of
streets in Chicago, there are only 500
ramped curbs. It's as difficult for a
person in a wheelchair to get over a 6-inch curb as it is for a healthy person to
leap a 10-foot chasm. That's why people
in wheelchairs feel that there should be
laws to ramp existing curbs now.
Barrier in transportation
"Listen," said Hawkins, "there's a
vicious circle that keeps veterans in the
hospitals. These people have no money
for cabs. And there's no way they can
take the trains or the buses. Out in the
world it's just too rough to get around,
fighting the escalators and revolving
doors, going into places through the
back, the garbage room. It's easier for a
lot of guys to stay in the hospitals."
A woman checking coats overheard
Hawkins. She said that her husband had
been disabled in World War I. He was
receiving a pension of $54 a month.
Hawkins told her he should be getting
more, since he had sustained a war-related injury. This man had been
getting less than he should for half a
century. "You've got to fight the
government for everything you have
coming," Hawkins said. "They can owe
you a million, but you have to fight them
for it. That's the kind of fight we all
have. All of us handicapped people have
to get together, put down our needs, and
wage a hell of a fight." One of the
problems, Hawkins pointed out, is that
the problems of handicapped people are
so different. A deaf person's needs are
very different from a blind person's.
Mildred Wiegold and Sharon Mayer
came from Springfield to attend the
conference. Both are blind. You have
probably seen blind people walking
down a street or taking a bus. Blind
people are often able to get around, but they are dependent on one factor: uniformity.
10 / June 1976 / Illinois Issues
One man's idea: Governor, lawmakers should spend one day in wheelchair so they would know how hard it is to get around
"Curbs should all be the same height,"
said Sharon Mayer. "I can be walking
down the street and one curb will be just
a couple inches and another will be half
a foot. Another thing that's tough is that
high first step on many buses. That's
difficult for crippled and old people,
too. New buses should have a lower first
step. And all doors, especially revolving
doors, should be uniform."
Mildred Wiegold doesn't like the law
which permits a right turn on red. "It's
difficult enough crossing the street with
the green light, but now it's not even safe
for us then." She also said that public
facilities should have directions in
braille. She described a nightmarish
experience in which she was trapped in
an elevator. The building was deserted
and she could not find the floor she
wanted. She pressed every button, but it
took hours for her to get where she
wanted to go. If she takes elevators in
new buildings, this shouldn't happen
again. Public Act 79-658, effective
October 1, 1975, requires that braille
markings be put on newly built and
renovated elevators.
Violations of laws
But how many new elevators will have
braille markings? Look at some of the
existing state laws which "protect" the
handicapped. The Equal Opportunities
for the Handicapped Act (P.A. 77-1211)
guarantees a right to housing and
employment — in cases where the
particular handicap doesn't interfere
with the job. There is a $2,000 fine or 30-day prison sentence for employers and
landlords who violate this law. Another
law, P.A. 76-1222, provides financial
aid to maintain handicapped people at
home who would otherwise be forced to
live in nursing homes. P.A. 76-805
directs park districts to create recreational programs for handicapped
people. Yet people at this conference
cited dozens of violations of these laws.
"What we need now are watchdog
agencies, like the Better Government
Association, or like the Urban League
for black people," Brucetta Alford said.
"For example, say a blind person is
denied an apartment because the landlord says, 'We're all filled up.' Say the
blind person feels he's being discriminated against. Someone else, a 'normal'
person can be immediately sent to apply
for the same apartment. If the normal
person gets the apartment, there may be
probable cause that the landlord discriminated against the blind person."
One of the growing watchdog agencies in Illinois is Advocates for the
Handicapped, which is comprised
mainly of volunteer lawyers. A Chicago
attorney, Melvin M. Landau, is its
president. "You see, the handicapped
lack mobility, they haven't been as vocal
and they're often not as visible as other
minorities," said Landau. "So, the first
battle is an educational one — to
educate the public that there are laws
protecting the handicapped as we
implement those laws. For instance,
architects are just now becoming aware
of the laws concerning accessibility.
Personnel officers of large corporations
are becoming aware of hiring requirements. Previously, they haven't been
aware of the implications of violating
the laws — namely lawsuits and monetary loss."
Suggestions by handicapped
Each workshop at the convention
consisted of a moderator, a panel, and
an interpreter for the deaf. The people in
the audience were free to ask questions
and make comments. Many of the
handicapped people came with speeches
concerning issues they felt strongly
about.
Attorney Landau was the moderator
of the legal rights workshop. Here it was
suggested that a civil rights director for
handicapped persons be established in
the state attorney general's office. It
was also urged that government agencies which deal with the handicapped
should hire handicapped people. A man
pointed out that the Illinois Commission on the Deaf has no deaf members.
Deaf people requested a law providing
interpreters so that the deaf can attend
civic and public functions. One big issue
regarding future lawmaking was transportation. It was pointed out that three
times as many handicapped people
would be employed if transportation were available.
At the transportation workshop it
was suggested that there be reduced
CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) and
RTA (Regional Transportation Authority) fares for the handicapped.
At the employment workshop it was
pointed out repeatedly that the Illinois
Equal Opportunity for the Handicapped Act forbids discrimination
against handicapped persons. Many
employers think that handicapped
workers will get into accidents and do
poor work. But studies have proved this
to be false. In fact, many handicapped
people are more productive and have
better attendance records than other
employees.
Report to governor, legislators
The suggestions of the participants
were drawn up into a report which has
now been presented to the governor and
all state legislators. The report reflects
the vigor and seriousness with which
handicapped people are pursuing their
rights. Some of them are talking about
demands instead of suggestions. Others
are saying that the hundreds of thousands of handicapped voters should
band together and vote in a bloc for
candidates who best represent them. At
the architectural barriers workshop a
man said: "Gov. Walker and the legislative body should spend one day in a
wheelchair. Then they'd see what it's like
to try and get around!" Someone else
suggested that in the 1976 elections,
polling places be made accessible to the
handicapped.
"We just want what you'd expect
from a civilized society," said a blind
woman. "If we can get to the moon,
can't we have a lower first step on
buses?
June 1976 / Illinois Issues / 11