-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [OZADV] Manifesto for people with disabilities
Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2001 17:14:24 +1000
From: Sue Egan <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: OZADVOCACY-- Disability rights in
Australia<[log in to unmask]>
Organization: Physical Disability Council of Australia
To: [log in to unmask]
>From a list based in Canada:
Sue
MANIFESTO FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
We proclaim that we are born free and equal human
beings; that our
disabilities are limitations only, and that our
identity does not derive
from being disabled.
We proclaim that we have the same value as people
who are not
disabled, and we reject any scheme of labeling or
classifying us that
encourages people to think of us as having
diminished value.
We reject the idea that institutions must be created
to "care" for us,
and proclaim that these institutions have been used
to "manage" us
in ways that non-disabled people are not expected to
accept. We
particularly denounce institutions whose purpose is
to punish us for
being disabled, or to confine us for the convenience
of others.
We reject the notion that we need "experts," to tell
us how to live,
especially experts from the able-bodied world. We
are not diagnoses
in need of a cure or cases to be closed. We are
human, with human
dreams and ambitions.
We deny that images of disability are appropriate
metaphors for
incompetence, stupidity, ugliness or weakness.
We are aware that as people with disabilities, we
have been
considered objects of charity and we have been
considered
commodities. We are neither. We reject charitable
enterprises that
exploit our lifestyle to titillate others, and which
propose to establish
the rules by which we must live without our
participation. We also
reject businesses that use us as "warm bodies" to
provide a passive
market for their services, again laying down rules
by which we must
live for their profit. We recognize that the lines
between charities and
businesses are blurred in the disability industry,
and we do not
accept services from either if their essential
function is to exploit us.
We assert our rights of self-determination in the
face of rules,
eligibility criteria, regulations, customs, laws or
other barriers, and we
pledge not to allow any authority or institution to
deprive us of our
freedom of choice.
Finally, we assert that any service we need, from
specialized
teaching to personal care, can be provided to us in
the community
among our non-disabled peers. Segregated
institutions are not
necessary to serve us, and they have been the
greatest source of our
oppression, especially when they have been run by
able-bodied
people without our participation.
All human beings are more alike than we are
different. We recognize
that when we assert this belief we will find
ourselves in conflict with
regressive institutions and their supporters, some
of whom may be
disabled themselves.
We do not expect thousands of years of stereotyping
to dissipate
quickly. We commit ourselves and those who come
after us to
challenge our oppression on every level until we are
allowed to be
fully human and assert our individuality ahead of
our disability.
By John R. Woodward, M.S.W.
Center for Independent Living of North Florida, Inc.
This document may be distributed freely in
electronic format.
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