[NFB-Talk] civil disobedience question

[m.barber817 at gmail.com]

Hi Chris:  First, do you have a disability rights organization in your
state?  If you do, your organization should immediately contact them.  I'm
pretty sure all 50 states have one.  For instance, ours here in Iowa is
Disability Rights Iowa.org.

Having said that, let me just say I thoroughly understand the frustrations
of those who are denied wheelchair and other access to public areas.  You
probably wouldn't be surprised by the many public restaurants and other
buildings which do no provide equal access to all people with disabilities.
I think the answer here is a major coalition of the many disability groups
gathering together peacefully, yet with firmness through the news media,
politicians, etc. to show them how and why areas are inaccessible.  For
instance, I think it would be a great idea to meet with your state's
governor and have him/her try to access an area which can't be accessed by
people in wheelchairs.  Or, show them where and why people with sight, even
though they may have another disability, might get the job while a blind
person goes without.

Just some ideas to think about.

Good luck to you.

Best,
Michael Barber

-----Original Message-----
From: nFB-Talk <nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Chris Westbrook
via nFB-Talk
Sent: Monday, January 13, 2020 9:10 AM
To: NFB Talk Mailing List <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Chris Westbrook <westbchris at gmail.com>
Subject: [NFB-Talk] civil disobedience question

I'm curious to know what my fellow NF members think of something. I am on
the board of a local organization here (not NFB or blindness related) and
some people from that organization decided to protest lack of wheelchair
access by totally disrupting the inauguration ceremony for new politicians,
to the point where they were arrested and almost charged with disorderly
conduct etc. As you can imagine this has sparked some controversy. I don't
want to get in to more detail here as I am on the board and we haven't
discussed things yet, but i'm just curious if anyone feels such militant
protests are ever justified? I am inclined to say no and definitely not in
this specific case for other reasons I won't get into here. This protest was
apparently enabled/aided by ADAPT which seems to be a very in your face
organization that is bad news in my opinion. It seems to me that such
protests can only hurt our cause. I think we must be careful to always
behave with dignity and be the adults in the room so to speak. Curious what
you all think.
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