President George H. W. Bush signed the ADA July 26, 1990. 3500 people attended from across the nation. It was the largest White House ceremony in history. We are now eleven years out from that day. Where are we?

Is the glass half full or half empty? It is a bit of both. Grand strides have been made. We have both won and lost in the Supreme Court. We won Olmstead in the Supreme Court, which stipulates that a person with a disability can live in his or her own home rather than a nursing home or other institution. We lost the Garrett case regarding the rights of state employees with disabilities.

Yet even when we lost Garrett, we won strength. We built networks and coalitions; we grew as a political force.

CELEBRATE OUR STRENGTH
The foremost aspect of the disability community we should celebrate is our own power. As a community we have acted together with our minds on freedom. The freedom we work for is full societal integration of children and adults with all disabilities. Perhaps we have at last learned that it is not the politicians, pundits and lobbyists who will secure our freedom for us. If we want to achieve freedom, there is no one to do that work but ourselves.

During the last 11 years, the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) has more than doubled in size and budget, and The American Association of Persons with Disabilities (AAPD) formed. AAPD is a cross disability organization that is modeled after the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). Although not membership driven, AAPD seeks to represent our interests in Washington, D.C. and to provide financial incentives and benefits for its members.

11 years ago it was unheard of for us to communicate by e-mail and act together. Today we do so on a daily basis, and we have thereby changed history. We act out of our power and change society, because we work hard and respond instantly to discriminatory events. When a Mom in Pennsylvania cried out for integrated education and tied herself to a flagpole, the disability nation responded in an instant and rallied to support her.

11 years ago ADAPT, which does its work by civil disobedience as well as negotiation, was avoided and whispered about. Today more people with disabilities witness the strength of ADAPT and join them. This year, ADAPT came to the White House 600 strong, and representatives met with the President’s top policy people. Their work resulted in President Bush’s Executive Order to implement the Olmstead decision. There are numerous other examples of the disability community showing its power and gaining ground over the last eleven years. Yet, there is a long, uphill road to achieving full societal integration.

The Downside
Our greatest loss over the last 11 years has been in the court of public opinion. 11 years after the ADA was passed, the general public still believes "Better dead than disabled." The average able-bodied person will tell you "I would rather be dead than blind." ‘I’d rather be dead than ‘confined’ to a wheelchair." Most folks have learned their view of disability from Jerry Lewis’s "Pity the Poor Cripple" approach.

Why is the court of public opinion so important to our lives and what can we do to change it? Politicians pass the laws and bureaucrats make the regulations that concern our civil rights. These policies mean the difference between living our lives as productive members of the community or marking time and dying in institutions. Politicians and policy makers follow the media because they view it as both the shaper and barometer of public opinion. If we want civil rights, if we want to stay out of institutions and in the community, if we want jobs and accessible transportation, the disability community must place a priority on becoming media savvy.

Politicians respond to two things: money and votes. Since 70% of us are unemployed, persons with disabilities are a little short in the $ department. We aren’t going to come up with those major campaign contributions. We are registering to vote and voting our issues more, and that is important. Important, but that’s not enough.

MEDIA SAVVY – AN ADVOCACY PRIORITY
Mary Johnson, Editor of the Ragged Edge, Cyndi Jones then of Mainstream magazine, Paul Longmore, Professor of History and Tari Susan Hartman of EINSOF Communications were pioneers in the media arena. In the 1980’s, they began developing media skills. Some urged those in the disability community to gain sophistication in using the media. In recent years, many of us have joined them. Yet we are only beginning to make a dent in the way the media covers disability. It is a stormy trail to convince the public that societal integration is both possible and preferred public policy where people with disabilities are concerned.

Becoming media savvy is not rocket science. There are basic steps of writing your message, follow up contact, learning to pitch a story and building relationships with media professionals. However it does involve making media advocacy a consistent priority in terms of an organization’s staff time and resources. If disability organizations throughout the country do not make this significant commitment to media advocacy, the general public will continue to view us as objects of pity, who need to be cared for. A public policy of segregation follows from that "take care of" attitude.

"The media is the way that everybody communicates in modern society. If you are not communicating with broader society through the media, you cannot expect them to understand where you are coming from or to agree with you," stated Josie Byzek, Associate Editor of New Mobility.

Where will we be 11 years from now? "Better dead than disabled" or "Integrated into society?" It’s up to you.

Janine Bertram Kemp divides her time between Washington, D.C. and Mt. Hood, Oregon. She can be contacted at janinebk@aol.com.