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A TIME TO GRADUATE
by Rev. Marshall Gisondi
When someone mentions the word graduation, what comes to mind?
We often think about the student who will leave high school to
pursue, we would hope, a college education. Sometimes we
equate graduation to a student that leaves junior high and
enters high school. We cannot over look the students who will
leave college to tackle the many challenges that the real world
has to offer. When we think about disability advocacy, does the
word graduate come to mind?
Throughout the years, disability awareness struggled to gain
a foothold in our society until 1990 when the ADA, Americans
with Disability Act was born. With much labor and toil,
disability advocates and activists alike worked hard to
establish this milestone in our society. Although the ADA has
and still continues to make many strides, disability awareness
fails to attain the next level, total equality.
Rather than embrace the ADA and graduate to a higher plateau,
our society often seeks to etch at the ADA's inner fiber and
shorten its ability to reach the people it so desires to assist.
For example, in the work place, an individual with a
disability under the ADA holds the right to have accommodations
that will allow him/her to perform on the job at the most
optimum level. Instead, so many in our society
whittle away at the ADA's purpose-to protect and help people
with disabilities gain the equality so deserved and long
overdue. People tend to ask, "What is reasonable accommodations?"
or, "What is undue burden?" Emphasis lies upon the person's
need for accessibility rather than qualifications. Employers
often seek the easy way out rather than hire someone who
stands as qualified or more so than someone who does not
require accommodation to perform the necessary job tasks.
Lobbyists have to fight to keep the ADA afloat, but if we
could take our awareness to a higher level, how would this
affect their efforts? Perhaps less lawsuits would occur.
What steps can society take to give awareness a strong
foundation and allow for a cap and gown ceremony?
First, rather than try to redefine the ADA for example, let's
encourage everyone involved to strengthen it. Second, society
must take steps to make accessibility the norm rather than the
unusual, and this applies to attitudinal as well as physical
barriers. Third, let's ask, "What are we trying to attain?"
We need to pull our resources together and work as a team to
establish equality for all. We have too many fragmented causes
in our society that vie against one another. Although
advocates and activists continue to make many important strides
toward equality for individuals with disabilities, it wouldn't
hurt to improve upon unity in cause and direction.
So let's graduate to the next level. Put on your cap and gown
and stand proud and tall as we approach the next level in
disability awareness, total equality.
Rev. Marshall Gisondi
Minister/Writer
P.O. Box 6216
South Bend, IN 46660
574-234-8737 888-717-6800 Fax: 574-233-1074
E-mail: author65@aol.com
Through Christ we can take the "Dis" out of disability." Phil. 4:13
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