[nagdu] No Jews Allowed--excuse my ignorance!
Linda Gwizdak
linda.gwizdak at cox.net
Thu Jan 21 19:09:03 UTC 2010
Hi Sherri,
No senility! LOL! LGBT stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender.
Cheers and hope you're having better weather where you are than we're having
here in San Diego. Rain, wind, flooding, power outages, and more! Oh yes,
the Eucalyptus trees that are falling down all over the place! They grow so
tall and have a very shallow root system so wet ground makes them become
top-heavy and over they go! But I'm safe and warm in my home and Landon is
crashed out under my computer table as I do e-mails.
Lyn and Landon
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sherri" <flmom2006 at gmail.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 4:41 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] No Jews Allowed--excuse my ignorance!
Hi Linda, I'm so sorry, but I am drawying a complete blank. What does
LGBT stand for? Forgive my ignorance or maybe my senility!
Sherri
----- Original Message -----
From: "Linda Gwizdak" <linda.gwizdak at cox.net>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 6:26 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] No Jews Allowed
Jeanette,
Great! Hey, did I miss anything from the article??? Funny thing, Marc NEVER
mentioned the thousands of LGBT people who were Hitler's victims BEFORE he
got around to the Jews. These people were forced into ghettos as well and
forced to wear the pink triangle and were killed. Hitler got to the Jews
BECAUSE he was allowed to kill off other groups - blind and disabled -
first! We STILL get left out as LGBT people even in some of our disability
organizations!
Lyn and Landon
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeanette Beal" <bealjk at gmail.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 3:41 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] No Jews Allowed
While I appreciate the message of disability-as-identity and inequalities
being lobbied to end, this analogy lacks a giant truth: religious and ethnic
identity does not equate physical/mental/emotional disability. The
experience of being denied services based on identity (ie. 'we don't treat
your kind') is a denial of one's humanity. Architectural and other access
barriers (and ignorance to what would provide legal and appropriate
accommodations) is an unfortunate inability to accommodate.
These different experiences may and often result in a shared negative
experience of denied humanity but that's based on the interpretation of the
person being affected, not the institution affecting.
In other words, denying me access because I'm not heterosexual is about
denying ME the right to exist. Denying me access because I'm blind is
generally about not having or feeling unable to accommodate me, however
accurate.
Jeanette
On Jan 18, 2010, at 4:21 PM, Sherri wrote:
> That is a wonderful article and really puts things into perspective.
> Thanks for passing it on.
> Sherri
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marion & Martin"
> <swampfox1833 at verizon.net>
> To: "NAGDU List" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>; "FLAGDU List" <flagdu at nfbnet.org>;
> "NYAGDU List" <nyagdu at nfbnet.org>; <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Monday, January 18, 2010 12:09 PM
> Subject: [nagdu] No Jews Allowed
>
>
>> Dear All,
>> I was asked to circulate this message by Marc Dubin, Mr. Dubin is a
>> subscriber to the email list of the National Association of Guide Dog
>> Users. Marc is a former Senior Trial Attorney with the United States
>> department of Justice and currently serves as the Director of Advocacy
>> for the Center for Independent Living of South Florida, located in Miami,
>> and
>> Chairs the Florida Bar's Disability Law Committee
>>
>> . I hope everyone will take the time to read his comments, as I believe
>> they will help put our work as advoacates into perspective!
>>
>> Fraternally yours,
>> Marion Gwizdala, President
>> National Association of Guide Dog Users
>> National Federation of the Blind
>>
>>
>>
>> No Jews Allowed
>>
>> By Marc Dubin, Esq.
>>
>> mdubin at pobox.com
>>
>> Imagine that you sought help from the police after being beaten by your
>> husband, only to find that you were told that you could not receive their
>> services because you are Jewish.
>>
>> Imagine that you sought the services of the domestic violence program but
>> are told that you could not receive their services because you are
>> Jewish.
>>
>> Imagine that you sought the services of the Red Cross during a Hurricane
>> but are told that you could not receive their services because you are
>> Jewish.
>>
>> Imagine that you are the victim of rape, and sought the services of the
>> rape treatment service but are told that you could not receive their
>> services because you are Jewish.
>>
>> Imagine that you desperately need medical care but are told that you
>> could not see the doctor because you are Jewish.
>>
>> Imagine that you went shopping, and are unable to go into a grocery store
>> because you are Jewish.
>>
>> And imagine that you seek out the services of an attorney, and are denied
>> services because you are Jewish.
>>
>> You would be outraged, and hurt. You would find allies to join you in
>> protest. You would seek to have anti-discrimination laws enforced. You
>> would consider suing. You would wonder how in this day and age such
>> discrimination could occur.
>>
>> Every day, people with disabilities seek the services of law enforcement,
>> domestic violence programs, Red Cross Shelters, rape treatment programs,
>> health care providers, businesses, attorneys, and others, and are denied
>> services because they have a disability. Architectural barriers that
>> should not exist remain. Sign language interpreters are not provided.
>> Policies that should be changed are not changed, and these policies
>> prevent people with disabilities from using the services they need.
>> Written materials are not offered in alternative formats. Service animals
>> are excluded.
>>
>> If you are a person with a disability, these scenarios are all too
>> familiar. You recognize these denials for what they are - civil rights
>> violations. These denials are as offensive, as hurtful, as harmful as
>> signs saying No Jews Allowed.
>>
>> My family understands this all too well. I am Jewish. When my parents
>> were growing up, they were kicked out of school, for being Jewish.. Their
>> parents were no longer allowed to work, because they were Jewish. They
>> were beaten up by their neighbors, because they were Jewish. They could
>> not shop in the neighborhood grocery stores, because they were Jewish.
>> And, they were arrested, along with every other member of their family,
>> because they were Jewish.
>>
>> Yes, it was another time and place. It was Poland, and Hitler was coming
>> to power. Discrimination was all around them, and grew, and grew.
>>
>> I believe that I am well aware of the cost of social injustice and of the
>> abuse of power, . My parents instilled in me an awareness of the
>> importance of public service, the cost of prejudice and abuse of power,
>> and of the debt I owe.
>>
>> Both of my parents came to the United States in 1952, from Lodz, Poland.
>> My parents were both survivors of Hitler's concentration camps, and were
>> the only members of their respective families to survive.(They each had 7
>> brothers and sisters) Before the war, Lodz had the second largest Jewish
>> community in Europe. As of 1939, there were 230,000 Jews in Lodz. The
>> Germans moved them all into one area of the city, and walled it off.
>> Eventually, an additional 25,000 people were brought in (20,000 Jews, and
>> 5,000 Gypsies). The Germans then systematically starved and killed them.
>>
>> Beginning in January of 1942, the Germans began transporting Jews from
>> Lodz to the Chelmno death camp, at a rate of approximately 1,000 a day.
>> Within 3 weeks, over 10,000 people had been transported. Between February
>> and April of 1942, over 34,000 more were taken away and killed. These
>> deportations continued month after month. In August 1944, the ghetto was
>> closed, and all remaining residents were transported by train to
>> Auschwitz. My parents and some members of their families were among this
>> group.
>>
>> As of 1944, of the original 250,000 Jews in Lodz, 30,000 were still
>> alive.. Shortly before the end of the war, on January 18, 1945, the
>> Germans removed 66,000 Jews from Auschwitz, and in an effort to avoid
>> discovery by the Soviet Army, which was advancing toward the camp,
>> marched them in the snow for days, and shot them as they marched, trying
>> to destroy the evidence of what they had done. My father was on this
>> death march, but escaped by leading a group of prisoners into the forest,
>> emerging only when the Soviet Army arrived.
>>
>> By the time they were liberated from Auschwitz at the end of the war, in
>> January 1945, only 15,000 of the original 250,000 jews in Lodz had
>> survived. An estimated 1, 500,000 Jews were killed at Auschwitz. All of
>> my parents' families, including their parents, their grandparents, their
>> cousins, their uncles, their aunts, their sisters, and their brothers,
>> were killed.
>>
>> Upon their liberation from Auschwitz, my parents were sent to a Displaced
>> Persons camp, where they were kept for seven years. My sister was born in
>> and spent the first six years of her life in the Displaced Persons Camp.
>> In 1952, my parents emigrated to the United States.
>>
>> I tell you this because it is essential that we understand that the
>> discrimination we address on behalf of people with disabilities is about
>> civil rights, and about what we as a nation stand for when it comes to
>> ensuring equal opportunity. When someone in a wheelchair is denied access
>> to shelter, or access to government services, or access to civic life,
>> they are experiencing discrimination. When someone who is deaf or hard of
>> hearing is denied access to health care because a doctor refuses to pay
>> for a qualified sign language interpreter, they are experiencing
>> discrimination. When someone who is blind is denied access to written
>> materials in accessible format, they are experiencing discrimination. Let’s
>> not be unclear about this. The denial of civil rights is the first step
>> toward seeing people with disabilities as inferior, and the first step to
>> allowing the kind of thinking that can lead us down a very dangerous
>> path. When the Nazis came to power, the first group killed were people
>> with disabilities. It is essential that we understand the parallels, and
>> that when we see discrimination, we stand up to it, and that we ally
>> ourselves with its victims. We need not see signs saying “No People with
>> Disabilities Allowed” to understand that discrimination is occurring,
>> and that we need to do what we can, what we must, to remove those
>> invisible, yet powerful signs. Lack of intent is not the test. The test
>> is whether the discrimination occurs, and whether we have the will to
>> overcome the discrimination. I believe we do, if we work together, and if
>> we have the will to identify the discrimination for what it is.
>>
>> Reproduction of this article is encouraged.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Marc Dubin, Esq.
>>
>> Director of Advocacy, Center for Independent Living of South Florida
>>
>> mdubin at pobox.com
>>
>> Mobile: 305-896-3000
>>
>> Fax: 877-731-3030
>>
>> www.victimswithdisabilities.org
>>
>> Chair, Florida Bar Disability Law Committee
>>
>> http://disabilitylawcommittee.blogspot.com/
>>
>> Former Senior Trial Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice 1993-2005
>> www.ada.gov
>>
>> Former Special Counsel, Office on Violence Against Women, USDOJ
>>
>> www.ovw.usdoj.gov/overview.htm
>>
>> Founder & Executive Director, CAVNET www.cavnet.org
>>
>>
>>
>> ADA Expertise is owned and operated by Marc Dubin, Esq. Opinions posted
>> are posted in a private capacity, and are not to be construed to be the
>> opinions of the CIL, its employees, Board, or volunteers.
>>
>> ADAExpertise | Archives | Modify Your Subscription
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
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