A Timely Essay

A Timely Essay
Thoughts on Contribution

Recently, Time Magazine released its editor's choices for the most influential individuals of the past century. As we enter this new millennium, I cannot help but reflect on their results and what they mean to me; what they say to all of us. Given what we know from history or personal experience, we acknowledge that these people were extraordinary in their clarity and vision; their view of what was and what could be, and worthy of the honor bestowed. Still, as with all stories, there is more to this one than meets the eye. There is a perspective unfamiliar to many, one currently being overlooked by our society, and it is this:

The second most influential person of the last century, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was a wheelchair user. As President of the United States, he played a vital role in bringing the Second World War to an end, and he provided the opportunity for millions of Americans, a blend of many cultures, to return to work; to a life dignified by contribution.

He did this at a time in our history when oppression toward disability culture and all that it represented was so great then even he, a changer of worlds, was compelled to keep his disability a secret.

And Number One? According to editors of Time Magazine, the Most Influential Person of the 20th Century was a Patent Clerk from Switzerland, believed to have grown up with a Learning Disability. Albert Einstein had difficult with numbers. He disliked mathematics early on.

And what of Stephen Hawking? A chair user whose mind is literally light years ahead of the most of us; riding the cosmic wave of a currently expanding universe. And where would we be as a society, as a human community, without the sheer electricity of Edison and Graham Bell, the passion of Beethoven, the depth and colour of Monet and Matisse, the imagination of Milton, Keats and Shelley, the vision of Keller and Curie and the poetic footwork of Christy Brown. The list is endless.

Our history as a society, as a whole, is steeped with contribution from its disability culture. I, and many of you belong to this culture; this group of people sharing common or similar experiences, beliefs and concerns, history, language, and oppression.

Yes, our disability culture, like so many minority groups, continues to be misunderstood, marginalized, patronized and pitied, exploited and excluded from so much that our world; our community has to offer. And we have so much yet to contribute.

As we say goodbye to a century filled with war and violence; with hatred and fear and the resultant bigotry and discrimination that has kept us apart, let us listen to each other's stories, acknowledge and celebrate each other's differences and embrace our commonalities. We owe it to those who made and those who may yet make a difference to think and act inclusively in our schools and businesses, in employment, housing and medicine. We owe it to ourselves as a community.

As I sit here in my chair, gently rocking my one year old to sleep, I can tell you that living with a disability is not a detriment. It is not a tragedy. It simply affords a unique perspective. When people ask me ‘What kind of chair is that that Stephen Hawking is sitting in?', I am quick to remind them it is the same chair Sir Isaac Newton sat in so many years ago.”