Just Words

I have spent exactly one work day in Washington, D.C. and have absolutely nothing juicy to report. Other than possibly catching a glimpse of the presidential helicopter and spotting various suited Harry Reid look-alikes, I have yet to brush up against pure political power. I suppose the closest I came was sitting in a training room with a gentleman who has negotiated alongside Senator Ted Kennedy.

As part of my orientation to the Kennedy Public Policy Fellowship, this 20-year Capitol Hill veteran was assigned to impart great Washington wisdom upon me. He spent five and a half hours pounding everything from congressional ethics (I know, some of you are thinking “oxymoron”) and strategy into my brain. While I thought I had mastered the essentials of how a bill becomes a law from “Schoolhouse Rock” (you do recall, “I’m just a bill…and I’m sitting here on Capitol Hill.”), it was quickly apparent I had much to learn.

My trainer recounted for me how the Senator, while negotiating legislation with people who didn’t see eye to eye, was a master at finding common ground. Even if common ground consisted of agreement on the use of a particular word, Mr. Kennedy would use that simple accordance to create a positive step and add one more.

This training anecdote reminded me of a recent conversation in a school hallway. A friend overheard an educator commenting about children with intellectual disabilities. It went something like, “The expectations these parents have about their kids are unrealistic. It isn’t like they are going to be going off to college or living on their own ever.” As a parent, this is a difficult statement to digest. Senator Kennedy’s approach left me wishing I could have him alongside me while I attempted to change this person’s perceptions.

But my experienced trainer reminded me that people don’t change attitudes overnight – particularly not on Capitol Hill (unless it is an election year, of course.) Disability advocates, or advocates of any kind, must build relationships, discover individual’s self-interests and accept small victories where they can.

When it comes to shaping the public’s ideas around disability, we are still in the middle of a paradigm shift. It will be part of my job as a Fellow (and parent advocate) to help people move from one paradigm to the next. I have been duly warned that I will meet Congressional staff who still believe people with disabilities are defective, vulnerable, dependent and in need of “fixing” – the old paradigm. In fact, up until 1974, Chicago had a law on the books saying, “no person who is diseased, maimed, or in any way deformed so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object is to be allowed in or on the public ways or other places in the city.”1

The new paradigm, the one I need to promote, explains disability as a natural part of the human experience, participation as a civil right and with a focus on fixing the physical and social environment to provide effective and meaningful opportunity.2 It will take negotiation to reach this ideal.

I suspect that much of what I learn about Capitol Hill collaboration from Senator Kennedy or whomever will apply to my everyday life. Whether that’s convincing my husband to efficiently fold the laundry or supporting an educator to see my daughter’s independent future. The key will be finding mutual motivations and understanding that the path to success may not be what I originally envisioned. (Some people do wear wrinkled clothes, you know.)

At the end of my first workday, the most encouraging chapter was the assurance that what I dream for my daughter is already part of the letter of the law. In fact, Section Two of the Americans with Disabilities Act as well as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) include this statement: “the Nation’s proper goals regarding individuals with disabilities are to assure equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for such individuals.”3

Sounds good, right? But we all know these are just words. It is up to those of us who believe them to ensure they are put into action.

Enough for now, I am on the lookout for Air Force One!

Lisa Pugh is the 2009 Kennedy Foundation Public Policy Fellow. She will work on disability public policy for the House Committee on Education and Labor during the 111th Congress and is being sponsored by The Arc Wisconsin. She will live for one year with her family in Washington and return to her home in Madison, Wisconsin to share what she’s learned in January 2010.

1. Robert Silverstein, Training Materials on How to Become Effective Disability Policy Change Agents, 2006.
   
2. Silverstein.
   
3. Americans with Disabilities Act Ş 2(a), 42 U.S.C. Ş12101 (1) (1994).