forwarded message follows:
I have invited Jim to join accessibuilt.
>From: [log in to unmask] (Jim Davis)
>To: [log in to unmask]
>
>I realise that, on this list, the equation
>"Impairment + Barriers = Disability"
>that "Barriers" tends to mean attitudes (+ semantics), and actions (or
>lack; like not funding a service) But a few of us on the list (and some
>of us, are even "out" about it!) are also interested in "barriers" of
>the kind that don't need hyper-theorization: The concrete kind.
>
>New York City has a huge subway system. One must be able to climb
>endless steps, to use nearly all of it. (This locks out -- not only
>wheelchair users, but many many others.) Efforts to get it made fully
>accessible (to make a very long story short) have almost totally failed.
>(And the alternative "Access-A-Ride" system, is an absolute horror
>show. Only the public busses are generally accessible; which can take
>twice as long as a subway ride, and of course require much waiting,
>outside, in the rain & snow.)
>
>I happened to pick up a 1984 trash novel:
>"MAYOR, AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY", by EDWARD I. KOCH. Well, it's supposed to be
>"Non-Fiction", but...
>
>Page 308:
>(Meeting between New York City Mayor Ed Koch and President Ronald
>Reagan, in the early 1980's)
>
>QUOTE:
>
>"Then I (Koch) said, "The other issue I wanted to discuss with you was
>the mandates.* " (His footnote: The 504 mandate requires localities to
>make mass-transit facilities equally accessible to the handicapped.) He
>(the president) said" Oh, I have good news for you there too. WE ARE
>GOING TO ADMINISTRATIVELY, if possible, and legislatively if required,
>END YOUR NEED TO RETROFIT THE SUBWAYS..... (My emphasis.)...
> I said, "Mr. President, that is wonderful. OUR FIGURES INDICATE
>THAT ENDING THE 504 MANDATE WILL SAVE US THIRTY MILLION DOLLARS
>ANNUALLY..."
>
>(504 was a set of long-awaited regulations, from a U.S. federal law of
>the 1970's. It's the reason why Washington, DC's own new subway system
>was built accessibly, though its original design was intended to be not
>accessible.)
>
>Quote is from p. 308, of the 1985 paperback edition from Warner Books,
>New York.)
>
>It is interesting that this politically very skilled Democratic Party
>(if not exactly "liberal") Mayor (he won three 4-year terms)..... in
>the mid-80's.... felt NO political need to conceal this sleazy little
>collusion with an ultra-conservative President, to violate people with
>disabilities'' human rights, at all.
>
>He just comes right out and says it, in his own self-serving "spin
>control" book!
>
>Nowadays, a NYC politician would feel some need to cover that up, or
>"spin" it, or lie about it. It's interesting that one doesn't have to
>go back more than 15 years, to find this kind of evidence, "(not from a
>"conservative", but from a politician who had a very solid "liberal",
>reputation as a Congress Member, before running for Mayor)...."right out
>in the open". Diabled rights activism in New York City, was about a
>decade old when this book came out, but apparently Koch still did not
>fel the need to sweep this sordid little conversation, under the rug.
>
>
>
Adrian Higginbotham:
S U R F A C E
Salford University, Research Focus on Accessible Environments.
tel> 0161 2954939.
if a pig looses his voice is he disgruntled?
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