The Ins and Outs of Mainstream Life

Two contrasting stories caught my attention this week.  One exemplifies the continuing efforts to include people with disabilities in mainstream life through various media forms.  The other dramatizes the fact that, in reality, people with disabilities are often excluded, or forgotten, from mainstream life.

The good news is that Archie has a new girl friend...and she has a disability.  After more than 70 years, the venerable Archie comic strip has finally added a person with a disability to the gang from Riverside.  Her name is Harper, cousin of Veronica (my favorite was always Betty.  Stop me when I've exceeded the nerd quotient) and she uses a wheelchair.  She is described as having a spunky personality and, according to the Archie Comics people, does not let her disability define her.  Good for you, Arch!

When we move away, however, from the colorful pages of a comic book to the black and white pages of real life, we see news that is not as positive.  According to the National Council on Disability, as reported in a recent article in Disability Scoop, serious barriers continue to jeopardize the well-being of people with disabilities in the wake of disasters and other emergency situations.  Many 911 systems are still unavailable by text.  Shelters and televised emergency announcements often lack sign-language interpreters for those who are deaf.  Broadcast alerts feature language that is unclear for individuals with intellectual disabilities.  Evacuation maps and websites with emergency information are inaccessible to people with sight impairments.  Said Jeff Rosen, chair of the National Council on Disability, "The concerns of people with disabilities and others with access and functional needs in emergency situations are frequently overlooked, minimized or not even recognized until after the fact."  The agency is recommending that several federal agencies work together to establish guidelines for communicating with people with disabilities in emergency situations.  They are also suggesting more oversight, training and collaboration with the disability community.

Maybe Harper, Archie and the gang can help with that.

Mark Bernstein
Growth Consultant, Central East Regional Group and UUA Liaison to Equual Access

Step By Step

It may move at glacier speed, but more and more the needs of people with disabilities are being addressed in our society in ways both large and small.  The latest to catch my eye involves
the simple but universal act of enjoying a night at the movie theater.  In the Philadelphia area, and, I imagine, in many areas around the country, movie theaters are now offering small devices that discreetly display captions to the individual moviegoer.  Some theaters offer eyeglasses that display captions across the bottom of the inside surface of the lens so that only the wearer can see them.  Others provide little screens mounted on the end of flexible arms that are positioned in the moviegoer's cupholder.  While there are still occasional glitches in the accuracy of the transcriptions, this is a wonderful step forward in helping people with hearing impairments (like me) follow the dialogue and more fully enjoy the movie.

Theaters are also installing devices that aid those with visual impairments as well.  In many theaters, moviegoers can wear an audio headset that includes both the regular movie dialogue as well as the voice of a narrator who describes the action on the screen, for example, whether they are driving a car, eating a meal, or even smiling or frowning.

At the Unitarian Universalist Association, we are constantly looking for ways to use existing technology to aid Unitarian Universalists with hearing and vision problems.  For two years now, we have offered audio versions of UU World.  We are exploring ways of better utilizing closed captions on various YouTube and other videos.  We are also investigating ways of making printed materials available to people with "print disabilities" via audio books, screen reader software and braille.  Resources are available to congregations who want to enhance the sound capacity in their buildings via headsets or loop system.

Whether its watching a movie, attending a worship service or enjoying a good book, everyone deserves the right to full access.  We in the UUA, as in the general society, are getting there.  Bear with us and thanks for your patience.

Mark Bernstein
Growth Consultant, Central East Regional Group and UUA Liaison to Equual Access

Blazing Trails

Samuel G. Howe

It will come as no surprise that many Unitarian Universalists have been instrumental throughout history in advancing the cause of people with varying abilities. Some of the names are better known: Dorothea Dix and Samuel G. Howe who, among other accomplishments, established the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston and was recognized as the country’s leading expert on the subject.  Others are lesser known, but no less important in raising consciousness, improving services, and gaining greater acceptance of people with disabilities in society.

While some of his techniques may have been suspect (he was a great proponent of bloodletting to cure ills, for example), Benjamin Rush was a pioneer in the study and treatment of mental illness.  Rebuffed when he protested the inhuman treatment of people with mental illness at Pennsylvania Hospital, he obtained state funding to create a ward for the “insane” at that facility and began a practice that revolutionized the way we think of people with mental illness.  In 1812, he wrote the book Medical Inquiries and Observations, Upon the Diseases of the Mind, which was a standard reference for seventy years and earned him the title of “the father of American psychiatry.”

Dr. Martha May Eliot was a leader in the development of health services for mothers and children.  While on staff at the Department of Pediatrics at Yale, Dr. Eliot helped to develop the Division of Child Hygiene and collaborated in the drafting of the first Maternity and Infancy Act which required states to extend and improve services for mothers and children and for “handicapped” children.  In her report to Congress in the mid-1950’s, Dr. Eliot identified children with mental retardation as a program priority.  Largely through her initiatives, by 1955, services for people with mental retardation were a priority within the federal government.  Since 1964, the American Public Health Association has awarded the Martha May Eliot Award to deserving individuals who have provided extraordinary health services to mothers and children.

T. Berry Brazelton, M.D. has a long and distinguished history in the field of primary care pediatrics and child psychiatry.  An author of more than 200 scientific papers and chapters, Dr. Brazelton has been influential in advocating the importance of early intervention to at-risk infants and their families.  Among other honors, he was appointed in 1989 to the National Commission on Children by the U.S. Congress, where he advocated for better services to disadvantaged children.  His Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale is used worldwide to assess the physical and neurological responses of newborns as well as their emotional well-being and individual differences.

These are just a few of the stories of Unitarian Universalists living out our faith in word and in deed…and helping to make the world a better place for people of all abilities.

Cumulative Effect by Barbara Ceconi

Dressed for work, I am rapidly walking down the street with my guide dog, on my way to facilitate a training session. I worry, as always, that the mass transit will be late. While walking, I am deep in thought on the subject matter of the day’s session.

Suddenly a man stops me. “Do you know where you are?” he asks.

I jerk myself from my thoughts, momentarily confused by the sudden interruption. Of course I know where I am and where I am going. What sort of question is that? Stunned, I look at my dog and respond, “Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore?” I walk away shaking my head, annoyed by the interruption.

I run into a convenience store to buy some mints. The clerk rings up a few orders and I hear no one else in line. “Could you get me some wintergreen Tic Tacks please?” I query. “On the left,” he responds, apparently not looking up. The boxes are recognizable by shape, but not the flavors. I ask him again, explaining that I am blind. With a surprised, “Oh,” he leans over the counter and grabs a pack for me.

I am nearly at the subway station. Without a word, someone grabs my arm and drags me across the street. I struggle to pull my arm away from this stranger. “What are you doing?” I sputter. “I was just trying to help. Sorry.” The person walks away. Since the experience was disorienting on several levels, I now have no idea what corner I have been deposited on. I ask passersby where I am. “On the corner of Harvard and Beacon,” answers someone. It’s a four-way intersection, so that doesn’t situate me. I wait for someone else to pass. “Excuse me, what store am I in front of?” No response. Wait for the next person. “Can you tell me where the bank is?" hoping for information so that I can puzzle out my position. I feel frustrated and angry that others think they know what I need better than me.

After I receive the direction, I walk, reoriented, towards the subway stop. Once aboard, a pleasant woman offers me her seat. I respond with a curt, “No.”

My response was sharp and out of line. After the string of incidents, I am in no mood to be gracious. This well-intentioned woman, must have been shocked by the hostile intonation of my voice, and justifiably so. Others near her could have been as well. Interactions like these can cause people to jump to the conclusion that people who are disabled are angry. Normally, I would have thanked the woman and smiled. I snapped at her because of the accumulated frustration. I experienced during my brief walk. And those emotions landed on her. This is known as cumulative effect.

Cumulative effect occurs frequently with people who are discounted over and over again. Unfortunately, the individual who experiences such recurring incidents draws a conclusion: it is due to my difference, in my case, my blindness.