Being wheelchair-bound was just one of this woman\u2019s physical limitations.\u00a0 She\u00a0 couldn\u2019t use her arms. She could barely talk; her mouth would not form the words.\u00a0\u00a0 Her caregiver had to wipe spittle from her face.<\/p>\n
The device that helped her speak was a visual reader.\u00a0 An electronic display was attached to her wheelchair.\u00a0 She could select a letter of the alphabet by looking at it, and it would help her build words and sentences.\u00a0 I talked with her just a few times, \u00a0resisting my impatience at the slow pace as I thought of how much patience her life required every day.<\/p>\n
She had a doctorate in psychology.\u00a0 This is how far we have come in the treatment of people with disabilities.<\/p>\n
New Mexico celebrated this progress recently at the annual Southwest Conference on Disabilities, an extraordinary event \u2013 now annual — that attracted an estimated 1200 people including visitors from 36 states and a few countries.\u00a0 The conference was sponsored by the Center for Development and Disability at the UNM School of Medicine. \u00a0The halls were dotted with wheelchairs, assistance dogs, white canes and vigorous conversations in sign language. \u00a0I had missed the miniature ponies, the newest species used as assistance animals.\u00a0 Among the artists and craftspeople (all disabled) was a fellow selling hand-carved wooden canes.<\/p>\n
The Americans with Disabilities Act was enacted in 1990.\u00a0 Americans learned that disability activists think of exclusion as a civil rights issue, in a broad range of areas \u2013 certainly more than just parking and accessible restrooms.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s a disability?\u00a0 An inclusive conference like this covers many kinds of recognized disabilities:\u00a0 blindness, hearing impairment, developmental disabilities, and physical disabilities of all kinds.<\/p>\n
A few prominent themes observed at this year\u2019s conference:<\/p>\n
Self-advocacy is a major topic. Individuals with disabilities, and their families, receive training on their rights and how to advocate for themselves.\u00a0 They learn to think of disability inclusion as a civil right, comparable to the rights of racial minorities, and to demand inclusion accordingly.<\/p>\n
Self-direction.\u00a0 If you need help with daily living activities, and you qualify both medically and financially, you are not forced into a group home.\u00a0 You can stay in your home and choose your caregivers, including family members if you wish, who are paid through a government program. A network of Independent Living Centers \u2013 several around the state — helps people who need to access services related to independent living.<\/p>\n
Life choice. People with disabilities should not be barred from starting businesses.\u00a0 Access Loan New Mexico can help you purchase assistive technology, and New Mexico Seed Loans can lend you money to start a business at low commercial lending rates. \u201cYesWeCanNewMexico\u201d is a membership organization that helps entrepreneurs with disabilities promote their products and services.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s an alphabet soup of government agencies and government-funded programs \u2013 confusing to the outsider and no doubt daunting to anyone negotiating the disability pathway for the first time. \u00a0One virtue of conferences like this is that staff of all the programs all spend a few days under one roof and get acquainted so they can do better at helping their clients navigate through the system.<\/p>\n
Mixed into the soup are divisions of the Human Services, Health and Public Education Departments, small separate agencies like the Commission for the Blind, and a plethora of citizen boards and commissions, each serving its special purpose.\u00a0 Why so many?\u00a0 The powerful message embedded in this administrative detail is that family members of individuals with disabilities are eager to volunteer, participate and advocate, reminding the rest of us that disability is not the measure of human value.<\/p>\n
For information on contacts and future conferences, go to www.cdd.unm.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n Triple Spaced Again, \u00a9 New Mexico News Services 2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Being wheelchair-bound was just one of this woman\u2019s physical limitations.\u00a0 She\u00a0 couldn\u2019t use her arms. She could barely talk; her mouth would not form the words.\u00a0\u00a0 Her caregiver had to wipe spittle from her face. The device that helped her … Continue reading