No More “Back in the Day”
(Part One: Disability and Civil Rights)
[SARN Memo for November 18, 2009]
Back in the day, if you had a disability, you were seen as special… or sinful… or a problem to be fixed.
Today, self-advocates see disability as something else. “We are people—people with rights.” No more “back in the day.” It’s a new day. It’s a new way to look at disability—the civil rights view.
Respond to this memo!1. Group Activity: Back in the Day (responsive reading)
Here’s a way for your group to get out in the community with a strong, clear message: Have your group practice and perform this responsive reading activity at a community event.
Here’s how the performance works: Five separate readers take turns each reading a different sentence. After each sentence is read, the whole group responds together by saying the following out loud: “Not any more. We are people. We have rights.”
Here are the sentences for the separate readers (add more or change as desired):
- Back in the day, if you had a disability, you were seen as “special.”
- Back in the day, if you had a disability, you were seen as sinful.
- Back in the day, if you had a disability, you were seen as a problem to be fixed.
- Back in the day, if you had a disability, you were seen as a medical issue.
- Back in the day, if you had a disability, you were seen as high functioning.
Practice the whole thing a few times, giving the group lots of practice at staying together and giving the individual readers practice at being loud and clear. Then schedule a time and place for your group to present this in the community.
2. Resource
Get On Board This Train to Freedom: Understanding the Civil Rights View of Disability
In this self-led workshop, your group looks at this civil rights view of disability: what it is, where it has come from, and how you can use its power to make change.
Today’s Trivia Question:
Fill in the blank: Ogden Nash, an American humorist, once said, “People who work sitting down get paid more than people who work _____________.”
(The answer will be published in the next Memo.)
Answer to November 11th Trivia Question: a. Eleanor Roosevelt
Question was: What well-known American said, “Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent”?
- Eleanor Roosevelt
- Franklin Roosevelt
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Helen Keller
Do you have a trivia item you’d like to submit?
Create a trivia question and we will review your question for possible use.
Your trivia question:
The correct answer:
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Reader Responses
Thank-you ACT, this was a great Memo. ”Back in the Day” everyone would of felt better if there were more organizations like yours...Thanks again, so appreciate these memos and your fine work.
Carla Tice, Project Director of SAS
Great memo! When people come to realize we’re dealing with civil (and human) rights, I believe we’ll finally see system reform!