 |
| source |
During our Digital Commons class, Bill Peace gifted us with his presence and during the opening 5 minutes Lemony Snicket was referenced, SO I thought it would be fun to run with that and express Bill's words in my words through Lemony Snicket's words.
“Appearance matters a great deal because you can often tell a lot about people by looking at how they present themselves.”
― Lemony Snicket, The Miserable Mill
As Bill entered the room I noticed something something peculiar, he was floating, much like Professor Charles Xavier. Ok.. well maybe not, but he was definitely hovering (most likely because of the quality of his wheelchair which I have come to learn is not by any means an affordable piece of equipment). As Mr. Peace settled in with his dog Kate, and began to talk, I had an epiphany. And as I had this epiphany, I flashed back to previous speakers who spoke on the behalf of the "disabled". One word comes to mind when I now recall these experiences:
Pietrisycamollaviadelrechiotemexity ― Lemony Snicket
The state or condition of not having the faintest idea what's going on.
It's unfortunate but it's true. When people speak of the disabled they leave out a lot of the things that need to be said (possibly to remain politically correct?). This is where Bill comes in, sometimes to get things done (i'm talking to you government), you need to take them into your own hands.
As Bill often stated, presenting someone as being less abled should not devalue someones life. In fact need it even be mentioned? Also in fact, Bill is much more abled and well seasoned(mentally and probably physically) than 99% of the people I know... Rights for the classifiably "disabled" should not be an argument, in fact they should not even be discussed. Let's put this in perspective; in 2002, an "estimated 1.6 million americans residing outside of institutions used wheelchairs". This is not including people that are temporary users (traumatic incident, surgery etc) is it okay to not properly allow these people access to public buildings, as Mr. Peace frequently documents in his blog? No? In fact it's just common sense to do so.
“Troublesome things tend to remain troublesome no matter how many times you do them.”
― Lemony Snicket
In the pile of Bill's stories, one hit home. Bill spoke fondly of his childhood and often praised his parents for not giving him the easy road. But what most he admired of his parents was their drive to raise contrarian children. Stating that often at dinner his dad would ask him and his siblings what one question they thought of was while learning at school, a similar question to what I was raised on.
“Uncle Monty smiled at the orphans. 'That's quite all right,' he said. 'Questions show an inquisitive mind.”
― Lemony Snicket, The Reptile Room
It is incredible the lengths Mr. Peace has gone not for himself but for others. If you want to be like Bill Peace, try to be like everyone else. Because thats all he wants; to be a father, to be a middle aged white man, to not be harassed for being less mobile, and to not be looked at as an ax murderer when he questions your ability to follow ADA regulations.
It's truly a shame Bill even has to waste his time on issues like these, I can imagine the issues Bill would be tackling if he didn't have to worry about things that should be non-issues.
My Bill Peace encounter: 9.4/10.
No comments:
Post a Comment