From: empower@smart.net
Subject: NCD testimony at hearing on revisions to FDR memorial
Thought this may be of interest,
Jamal
----------
National Council on Disability
1331 F Street, NW
Suite 1050
Washington, DC  20004
March 9, 1998
Mr. John Parsons
Associate Superintendent, Stewardship and Partnerships,
National Park Service - National Capital Region
1100 Ohio Drive, SW, Room 220
Washington, DC  20242
Dear Mr. Parsons:
My name is Jamal Mazrui.  I work as a policy analyst at the
National Council on Disability (NCD), and am pleased to present
this testimony on its behalf.  NCD is an independent federal agency
with a board of fifteen members from the disability community
around the country, who were appointed by the President and
confirmed by the U.S. Senate.  Our mandate is to advise the
Administration and Congress on public policy affecting our nation's
54 million people with disabilities from all ages and backgrounds.
The Council expresses its appreciation to Senator Inouye and
Congressman Hinchey for sponsoring the legislation enacted last
July to add a permanent depiction of FDR as a person with a
disability to the national memorial built in his honor.  We also
appreciated the significant disability references that the
President and Vice President made in their remarks at the opening
ceremony last May.  We applaud Secretary Babbitt and the Department
of the Interior for the work done so far to implement this law,
including substantive participation by people with disabilities in
the process.  Finally, we commend this public hearing as an
important community check before specific design decisions are
made.
On a personal level, I was inspired by FDR in the process of
adapting to a rare, genetic disease of the optic nerve, which left
me functionally blind at the age of 16.  I did not know of his
disability until learning of it in a speech by a blind leader that
drew an analogy between blindness and the physical condition of
FDR.  A provocative and moving point in the speech asked the
rhetorical question:  Does anyone lament what FDR might have done
as President if only he walked?  Unfortunately, for too many of us,
emphasis is still placed on what we might do if we were cured some
day, rather than on what we can do with the assets we have now.
The National Council on Disability is convinced that showing FDR in
a wheelchair is important because the primary barriers facing
people with disabilities today are attitudinal and environmental,
rather than physical and innate.  Over the last two decades,
America has made much progress in securing legal protections for
citizens with disabilities in various spheres of life, continuing
the spirit of equality and integration led by the civil rights
movements of racial minorities and women.  The Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990--which the Council originally
proposed--has been the ultimate statement of our equality under the
law, and has been suitably called the emancipation proclamation for
people with disabilities.  As African-Americans and others have
learned, however, the gap between laws on the books and realities
in society can be large and long to bridge.  Laws are an important
component of a democracy, but so too are the unwritten rules of
cultural values enacted day by day in all walks of life.  Changing
the law can help us change the culture, but this does not happen
automatically.  It requires a deliberate, ongoing process of
education and experience to forge a new social consciousness that
makes old ways of treating people with certain physical or mental
characteristics no longer acceptable.
The Council believes that depicting Franklin Delano
Roosevelt--regarded as one of our greatest presidents--as a person
with a disability is a tangible step toward an American culture
that treats citizens as equals, regardless of the nature or
severity of their disability; a culture that empowers all people
with opportunities to develop and realize their potential; a
culture that expects social, economic, and political contributions
from everyone.  It is noteworthy that such a depiction of FDR has
been endorsed by former Presidents Bush, Carter, and Ford.  It is
also consistent with the spirit of the "One America" initiative of
President Clinton, which seeks to end unhealthy division by race.
For the depiction to be meaningful, it should be a prominent,
free-standing statue that visitors to the memorial will not miss. 
During its development, a prototype design should be available for
public review and comment so the disability community can ensure it
will convey what the law intends.  This lesson is learned from the
experience of braille signage in the memorial, which was not
appropriately reviewed by blind people before the memorial opened. 
We also ask, therefore, that the current braille signage, although
artistically interesting, be revised in order to be readable by
blind visitors to the memorial.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify at this hearing of the
National Park Service.  We look forward with excitement to the day
when the many thousands who visit the FDR memorial each year will
be reminded that disability is a natural part of the human
experience, which may shape, but does not compromise, what each of
us can give to our country and the world.
Sincerely yours,
Jamal Mazrui
---
 # Origin: NFBnet  Internet Email Gateway (1:282/1045)
---------------