Author: AchonxJusT

His comment reveals something profound about the way we view disabilities in this country: Disability is seen as a private matter, a personal problem that a disabled individual struggles to negotiate in a world of “normal” people, rather than a social or political issue.

From a very young age, Adam intuited that it would be better for him to obscure his ailment than report it, risking the marginalization that might result. Hiding it until he physically couldn’t seemed the best way to protect his normality.

As he grew and became a man, fully capable of expressing himself in the world, his resolve to keep quiet was only strengthened. Though his physical symptoms had been manifesting for years, they became a “condition” only when others were aware of them, at which point he began to get a complex emotional bundle of pity, sympathy and fear from friends and family.

(Read more on the becoming-public of the ADA)

You can also catch more about what the nature of what it means to have a disability and the notion of “non-disabled” is actually a kind of subset of “disabled”. This term has less to do with interpreting the statement as a prediction that every abled bodied individual will someday become disabled but more

to offer a more inclusive expression that recognizes the diverse spectrum of disabilities, allowing individuals who are able-bodied to identify with the reality that disability affects us all. The term forces able-bodied people to put aside our own fears of becoming disabled, and focus on that which unites rather than separates us as people with a range of experiences and aspirations who face innumerable challenges.

You can read more about temporarily abled bodied here.

Interesting Article on an accessible theme park.

Those with disabilities are having fun this summer at a new Texas theme park designed with their needs in mind.

Morgan’s Wonderland in San Antonio, the brainchild of the father of a daughter with special needs and billed as the world’s first ultra-accessible family fun park, features rides and attractions easily enjoyed by those in wheelchairs or with cognitive disorders. Admission to the 25-acre park is free for those with cognitive or physical disabilities; family members and friends pay $5 a person. Kids 3 and under are free. Cost for those without a disabled patron in their party is $15. Reservations are required to visit, click here to make them.

The park (its website is morganswonderland.com) includes rides, interactive exhibits, playgrounds, gardens, a fishing lake and amphitheater. It has Braille signage.

Seminars on ADA Awareness are useful to help small and local businesses.

From the Business Journal:

Many restaurants, bars, salons and other service businesses overlook a requirement in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that signs be mounted exactly 60 inches above the ground.

They may also forget that hot water and drainpipes underneath sinks need to be insulated to protect against contact, particularly from those in wheelchairs.

Those are some of the things that were learned at a recent workshop put on by the City of Clovis to help local businesses come into compliance with the 20-year-old law in response to the large number of recent lawsuits.

Around 50 businesses needed the help since San Jose lawyer Randy Moore began targeting the Central Valley around two months ago on behalf of clients. El Gallo restaurant in Clovis, for instance, was forced to close its doors after being penalized up to $88,000 for 22 different violations.

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