Why Read This Blog?

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I just want to start this post by introducing myself.  My name is Leah, and I am a college student in Pennsylvania, however, I am originally from Wisconsin.  I have a disability called Spina Bifida, which I will not explain unless anyone feels that it would be beneficial.   For my blog, I wanted to bring in my personal experiences with living in the United States while being in a wheelchair.  This blog will also include current and past disability rights issues.  I have had some advocacy experience in this area.  For this blog, I will talk about these experiences.

When I was born in the late 1990s, Wisconsin struggled to fund programs and other things for individuals with disabilities.  Several years later, when I was about five, I began to understand what disability rights were, and what I could do to improve it.  Around this time, within the state government, debates were being held whether or not to increase or decrease the funding of programs for disabled individuals.  My parents decided, along with thousands of other parents, advocates, and disabled people, to go to the Capitol building in Madison, for the purpose of protesting in favor of funding.  It was in Madison that I met the first of many politicians that I would meet since then, the incumbent Governor at that time, Doyle.  I saw him again several times after that.  So, what was the outcome that this movement created?  Wisconsin lawmakers created a budget including disability programs.  A few short years later, my next experience with advocacy presented itself.

When I was eight years old, I started to become more politically literate.  Both of my parents were very involved with politics, and it was incredibly important to them for me to understand both sides of social issues to be able to form my own opinions, and affiliate myself with politics in whatever way I chose, without outside influence.  At this point in my life, I was starting to form my opinions and align myself with the Democratic side.  I had been to rallies for John Kerry. While the national election season was in full swing, so was the statewide congressional elections.  Disability rights were again a heated debate between the two parties.  It is for this reason that I went to a town hall meeting for Wisconsin Incumbent Senator, Russ Feingold.  Disability Rights was central to his campaign, unlike many politicians before and even after him.  During this particular town hall, Feingold went around the room, from person to person, asking each one if he or she had any questions about issues.  Once my mom had asked her question, he looked at me and somehow knew that this little eight-year-old girl had a pressing question for him.  Now, I do not remember the specifics of the question, but I do know that it covered an issue that was important to both of us, disability rights.  He, and his employees, and the entire room for that matter were shocked.  Yet, instead of doing what most adults do, and treat children like they do not know what they are talking about, he answered my question.

The last story that I will talk about happened this last year, while I was still in high school.  This school had a ground floor and a top floor with an elevator.  There were five students there that were in wheelchairs.  It was not until my senior year that the school had a comprehensive plan for fire safety.  Before this point, a student using a wheelchair would have to go to staircases and wait for a firefighter to come to take them out of the building.  Does anyone recognize the safety issue here?  No?  Okay, I will continue.  Flash forward to my senior year when the school put two chairs in stairwells to carry students down.  There are twenty of these staircases.  The two used were on opposite ends.  Teachers were supposed to carry students down, if more than one student was in one staircase, teachers were told to carry the other evacuation chair over.  This had all kinds of lawsuits waiting to happen.  When I realized how problematic this system was, I went to my principals, and they backed me up with the school board.  Eventually, I was able to appeal to the board to get a few more chairs added for safety.

It was in these moments that I witnessed just how important advocacy was for any social issue.  I decided to focus my future career on this advocacy.  This is what I hope to continue writing on my blog.  My goal is to inspire others to get involved with advocacy for any issue they may care about.