This year will be the twelfth time in my life that I cast a vote for the governor of NJ.  I remember back in 1973 being forced to vote two weeks ahead of time by absentee ballot because my polling place was not accessible.  I remember in 1992 being challenged at the poll because of disability, and I remember the empowerment I felt by calling a state hotline while at the poll to “fix” the situation to my satisfaction.

Times have changed for people with disabilities in terms of voting ease.  Now most polling places and polling booths are accessible. Voting early by mail is encouraged for everyone in many states.  Yes, there are still barriers to voting—especially in other states, but there is no excuse for any person with a disability not to vote.

Yet last year I read an article from the Arizona Capital  Times about people with disabilities voting, and it cited a report from the Research Alliance for Accessible Voting.  The report said that people with disabilities voted at a lower rate than their able-bodied peers in the 2012 election.  The rate was 56.9% in the able community vs 48.1% for people with disabilities. Our vote was 12% less than people who were able-bodied, and we wonder why some elected off do not pay attention to us!

The article also contained a quote from Phil Pangrazio, a person with a disability and the CEO of an Arizona-based center for independent living.  Pangrazio said:

“With barely half of our community overall voting in any given election, it is critical that we each take our civic right – and our duty – seriously. Not voting may just be one of the most selfish and irresponsible acts a citizen could commit.”

I agree with Pangrazio—especially with what is happening in Washington and Trenton these days.

One of my heroes in the Disability Movement was Justin Dart.  He is credited by many as the force behind the creation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  Dart’s take on people with disabilities voting was simple and succinct: “Vote as if your life dependent on it…because it does!”

          Voting is a right that every citizen of this great country should exercise.  People have died to gain that right. People have died to protect that right. People have died to exercise that right.  We need to honor their ultimate sacrifice by voting, and there is no excuse for people with disabilities not to vote.

New Jersey will be holding its Seventh Annual Disability Pride Parade and Celebration in Trenton this month.  The event is organized by the Alliance Center for Independent Living based in Edison, and I’m proud to have been a part of the parade since the beginning.

I have told this story many times, and the underlying philosophy remains important to emphasize each year.   I have recruited people with disabilities to march in past parades. One year my neighbor sarcastically asked me: “Are you proud of that stutter of yours?”  Since I’m always reminding him that he cannot see too well and that he is dangerous in a power-chair, his well-aimed barb is routine banter between people comfortable with their disabilities.  His comment, however, started me thinking about the incongruity of pride and disability.

It is incongruous to take pride in not being able to do something.  There must have been some onlookers at the parade in the past asking: What are these “broken-down people” with crutches and in wheelchairs doing marching around proclaiming their pride?  How can they be proud when they can’t do anything for themselves?

Well, that is the point.  Society’s view of people with disabilities can be so negative, so weakening, so smothering of spirit that overcoming that negativity can be empowering and something to be proud about.

As people with disabilities, we put up with so much crap imposed upon us by society, the government, the system, and the people in our lives that it is a wonder that any of us have the energy and initiative to be independent, productive, or active.   

But we are independent, productive, active, and we need to own it and show our pride in what we do!

This applies to every person with a disability no matter what their situation.  Our lives are a precarious “high-wire acts” of low income with under-funded supports that keep us more dependent than independent.  One false step drops us into the abyss of institutional living to be trapped and robbed of personal initiative, independence, and dignity.

Yet every day we get up to perform on the “high wire” defying negative attitudes, preconceptions, prejudices, and fears.  Some do it with drudgery.  Some do it with gusto.  Most people with disabilities live our lives somewhere in between.  We do it every single day.

This is why we should have pride.  This is why we need to display our pride publicly and loudly. This is why we celebrate our pride in ourselves and our community. 

Norman A. Smith,  Associate Executive Director – ProjectFreedom1@aol.com

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