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You are here: Home / Blog / Disabled Parenting / Reflections on #ADA27

Reflections on #ADA27

July 27, 2017 by Chris Wylie Leave a Comment

Stairs painted with quote by President George H.W. Bush: With today's signing of the landmark Americans for Disabilities Act, every man, woman, and child with a disability can now pass through once-closed doors into a bright new era of equality, independence, and freedom.As I sit and reflect on the 27th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), I think about both how far we’ve come and how far we have yet to come. I think about the great people, some of whom I’ve been privileged to meet who have lead and accomplished great things, and I think about those who, unfortunately, have not fully understood the value of maximum societal inclusion for all people no matter the bodies in which we live.

Mostly, however, I think about my daughter. How has all of this affected her? In short, what impact has her lifetime exposure to the ADA had on my almost 11 year old daughter, perhaps not coincidentally, named, Hope?

For starters, it is my hope and most days my belief, that exposure lowers the barriers to inclusion and, ultimately, acceptance. If I have access to buildings, and the people therein, I have the opportunity to become part of the community. Access, while not everything, is no small thing. When you sit across from someone, things begin to change. I am no longer the object of a regulation or law, I’m Chris. This doesn’t always work perfectly of course but, it’s a start not possible without access.

People of all types come and go freely. We interact together, go to school together, work together, and more. As I’ve long contended, “Barriers are broken down by relationship.” Relationship, in its best form, leads to friendship. Friendship which when deep and true refuses to yield until everyone is inside our shared circle of life and love. This is my hope; a hope which extends from me to my daughter, out into her world, to others, and beyond.

This is civil rights of any kind and, for me, as a disabled person, this is ADA.

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Filed Under: Disabled Parenting Tagged With: ADA, disabled dad, reflections

Chris Wylie

About Chris Wylie

Rev. Christopher Wylie is an ordained United Methodist Elder serving and living outside of Buffalo, NY. In addition to his day to day local church duties, he is an active advocate for the full inclusion of people living with disabilities, having served as past chair of the Disability Concerns Team along with many other current and former roles within the Upper New York Conference of the United Methodist Church. As a person living with cerebral palsy, he is passionate about the radical inclusion of all people no matter the bodies in which they live.

More posts can be read on his blog, crippastor.wordpress.com, where he writes primarily about matters of faith, disability, and often the intersection between the two.

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