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THIS DAY IN DISABILITY HISTORYFebruary - MarchFebruary 18th, 1934 -- Poet and activist Audre Lorde is born in New York City to parents of West Indian heritage. Lorde, the youngest of three daughters, was nearsighted and legally blind. Growing up in Harlem, she wrote her first poem when she was in the eighth grade. After graduating from Hunter College High School, she attended Hunter College from 1954 to 1959, graduating with a bachelor’s degree. In 1954, she spent a year at the National University of Mexico, a period she described as a time of affirmation and renewal because she confirmed her identity on personal and artistic levels as a lesbian and poet. On her return to New York, Lorde went to college, worked as a librarian, wrote poetry and became an active participant in the gay community of Greenwich Village. In 1961, Lorde earned a master’s degree in library science from Columbia University. During a yearlong residence at Tougaloo College in Mississippi, funded by a National Endowment for the Arts grant, Lorde met Frances Clayton, the woman who was to be her romantic partner for 22 years until Lorde’s death from breast cancer. Lorde died November 17th, 1992, in St. Croix. February 23rd, 1982 — Nick Dupree is born. Dupree, 26, is a disability rights and long-term-care reform advocate and writer who resides in Mobile, Ala. In 2001, he began a two-year campaign to change Medicaid regulations in Alabama, suing the state to retain services within the community. Along with pressure from state and federal officials and the media, “Nick’s Crusade” led to the creation of a waiver program to allow up to 25 Alabama citizens on ventilators to continue to receive in-home care after age 21. The case was settled out of court. Dupree has received the National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems (NAPAS) award for Advocate of the Year in Washington, D.C. He has given keynote speeches at conferences all over the country, including Chicago; Minneapolis; Washington, D.C., and in the church of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Montgomery, Ala. He continues to speak out on health care and disability issues. February 27th, 1934 -- Ralph Nader is born in Winsted, Conn. The attorney and writer is an activist in the areas of consumer rights, humanitarianism, environmentalism and democratic government. Nader has been a staunch critic of corporations, which he believes wield too much power and are undermining the fundamental American values of democracy and human rights. He helped found many governmental and non-governmental organizations, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Public Citizen, and several public interest research groups (PIRGs), including NYPIRG. The Atlantic Monthly, in its list of the “100 most influential Americans,” ranked Nader 96. In 1965, he published “Unsafe at Any Speed,” a best-selling indictment of the auto industry and its poor safety standards. He also founded the Disability Rights Center, where Evan Kemp worked before joining the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and eventually laying the groundwork for the Americans with Disabilities Act. February 28th, 1976 -- John Hockenberry is injured in a fatal car crash. Hitchhiking to Massachusetts with his college roommate, Hockenberry accepted a ride and then suffered a spinal-cord injury when the driver, Margaret Zinn, fell asleep at the wheel and crashed. Zinn died upon impact. Hockenberry, who became a paraplegic, would remain unconscious for more than 36 hours. He eventually returned to college before freelancing at KLCC in Oregon, an NPR affiliate. He dropped out of school and became an internationally known journalist, and later, the first inductee into the National Spinal Cord Injury Association Hall of Fame. He has spent more than a decade in television, is co-host of a morning-drive news show that can be heard on NPR stations and is a fellow at the MIT Media Lab. He is married with four children. March 10th, 1987 -- ACT UP is founded. The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power was formed when Larry Kramer cited the need for a political activist group. The group would do several national actions to spotlight the need for research on AIDS and for effective and affordable treatment for people living with it. Events targeting Wall Street, Cosmopolitan magazine and CBS News successfully raised awareness about AIDS to mainstream American society. Many ACT UP activists were allies of the disability rights group ADAPT and helped them at several actions in the early to mid-90s. Several ACT UP chapters are still active. March 13th, 1988 -- I. King Jordan becomes president of Gallaudet University. Student strikes at Gallaudet starting March 6th, 1988, revolutionized the perception and education of Deaf culture. Deaf students were outraged at the selection of another hearing president, Elisabeth Zinser, after a long line of university presidents who were not deaf. Alumni, faculty, staff and students demanded that the next president of the university be deaf. After a week of protest and activism, Zinser resigned and was replaced by Jordan. This movement became known as Deaf President Now (DPN). In 2006, when Jordan retired, the Gallaudet University Board of Trustees announced that Dr. Jane K. Fernandes, the university’s current provost, would be the next president. This was met with protests from the student body on campus and on Internet blogs and forums. It also marked what is sometimes referred to as the Deaf Blog Revolution. Initially, students cited the lack of racial diversity among finalists and Fernandes’ lack of fluency in American Sign Language. On October 11th, 2006, a group of protesting students shut down the campus. Five days later, faculty members voted 138-24 to block Dr. Fernandes from becoming president of Gallaudet. On December 10th, 2006, the university’s board of trustees announced that Robert Davila would serve as interim president for a period of up to two years. Compiled from various sources by Michael Reynolds Mike Reynolds is a writer, activist and filmmaker diagnosed with CP at birth. He graduated from UMaine, He lives in central Maine. You know of an important date in disability history? |
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