MAK OUR CITY FULLY ACCESSIBLE

I have read about all the costly federal and state unfunded mandates imposed upon cities over the past months, and I guess a response from the disability community is long overdue and needs to be addressed.

First of all, there would never have been an Americans With Disabilities Act if common sense and moral obligations had been put in place earlier in our country's history. There have been people with disabilities throughout history. Many great people are among them. Alexander Graham Bell had a hearing impairment. Franklin Roosevelt wore leg braces as a result of polio. We can put a man on the moon, but we can not make our planet accessible. We can spend millions of dollars on riverboat gambling legislation and for cities to build palatial office buildings and convention complexes, but we can not make our streets and stores accessible. Seems our priorities are a bit confused, or is it because many people never have to experience disability or have never had a family member with a disability who puts the imprint of moral obligation on their conscience?

Why does the government have to pay cities to meet their moral obligations? I am not even talking Christian morals, because I know many atheists and agnostics who are as incensed as I am about having to force feed people on common decency. We are talking about rights. Back in the 17th and 18th century it was the common practice to put people with disabilities in institutions if family members could not take care of them. Churches were the ones in charge of these institutions. Now we hear the 21st century, and the mentality of people is still that of "people with disabilities are someone else's problem, not ours."

People with disabilities want and deserve dignity, inclusion, support without contentiousness, both in scholastics and in everyday life. Why is this so much to ask? Why has it taken so long to get this far? Our city leaders are educated people. They want growth of their city, but with that growth comes obligations to their citizens. Among those citizens are young people with disabilities and the elderly with disabilities. If you have failed to notice, at least one in every 10 cars sports a disabled placard or license plate. When normal improvements are made to a city building, street, sport complex, or park why is it so hard to put a curb cut in, a ramp or larger toil facilities? The people using these facilities spend their money, pay taxes and care about their community just like everyone else. Why are we exempted from normal life? Equality means just that: equal!

As a person who contracted polio at 9 months of age, I feel I have contributed to the communities I have lived in, as so many other people with disabilities have. I do not feel it is the federal government's obligation to pay for inclusion or its rights. I feel we are entitled to be able to access all services and facilities in the city we live. I have had some people with disabilities tell me they won't stop anywhere it is not accessible. I say bunk! I pay taxes. I vote in every election. I participate in community projects. I care, so why can't the businesses and city fathers recognize this? Why are my discretionary funds to spend in their store not as important as the next person?

No, I am sorry, I don't buy the excuses I hear about the cost of making places accessible. My tax dollars pay for city improvements. Bottom line: just like anyone else. I have seen too much government waste in our cities to buy into their sob stories. I am tired of being the brunt of everyone's financial woes! The elderly have been around since the beginning of time. It's just they stayed home more, as did younger people with disabilities. We refuse to be tucked away and being considered a bother to people. I am not a bleeding-heart liberal nor a die-hard conservative. I am a realist, an optimist and pragmatic independent, just idealistic enough to keep going. I feel that someday, considerate construction will be the rule. I am part of the aging baby boomer generation, one of the largest populations in America. Many boomers may not be disabled now, but within the next 20 years, accessibility will become important. Having a disability will no longer be the exception but the rule. And the boomers will want access to their city at any cost.

Miki Gudermuth of Cape Girardeau is executive director of the SEMO Alliance for Disability Independence.