Recently, North Carolina, my home state, passed HB2 (House Bill 2, aka “the bathroom bill,” aka “Hate Bill 2”). The main portion of the bill, which has been politicized, is the bathroom portion of the bill, which requires people to use the bathroom of the gender listed on their birth certificate. This was in response to a Charlotte ordinance allowing transgender people to use the bathroom of the gender with which they identify.
However, this bill goes far beyond refusing to let transgender people use the bathroom of their choice. The bill reversed every anti- discrimination law ever passed in the state of NC, took away small government’s right to legislate and disallowed city and local ordinances from raising the minimum wage, even when those cities are far more expensive to live in. Thus, as a result of HB2, it is now legal under NC state law to discriminate against someone for his race, national origin, religion, color, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, age, and disability.
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So, why is it, then, that it seems that the disability community isn’t joining the battle against HB2 the way we’ve seen the LGBTQ and black community do so? Conversely, why doesn’t the LGBTQ, black and other minority groups join in our battles for equality? I feel there are a few different reasons behind this.
- First, the disability community, sadly, is very divided and, thus, politically weaker.
- Second, other minorities don’t consider us a minority and often oust us from their fight, as we aren’t considered minorities and viewed as members of the white majority.
- Third, our disabilities often make organizing and hitting the pavement to protest more difficult than other minorities.
- And, finally, our fight is interpreted as one of accessibility alone, as most people don’t realize just how much animosity the disability community is subjected to by non-disabled people.
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The disability community makes up 20% of the population, but we come in all shades and varieties. Some of us are mobility impaired, like me, and often identify as disabled. Some are deaf or hard of hearing, blind or visually impaired, autistic, intellectually disabled, mentally ill, or chronically ill with pain or GI conditions, and these people often don’t even identify as disabled.
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Beyond our disability needs, we are further divided by intersectionality. This brings me to my second point. The non-disabled community often sees the disability community as straight white Christians with disabilities and, thus, part of the majority. We are, decidedly, not. Disability impacts every race, religion, and sexual orientation. We often identify first as these minorities and disabled somewhere later or not at all. I, for example, identify first as being Jewish, and some of my closest disabled friends identify first as gay or transgender.
Minorities must join together and build powerful coalitions and allow our allies to join our fight. Hillary Clinton’s new slogan, “Stronger Together” is so true, and we must always remember this.
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Finally, non-disabled people think disability discrimination is nothing more than a lack of accessibility and, thus, our plight isn't as sympathetic. But, this is far from the case. The congressional history of the Americans with Disabilities Act is filled with gut-wrenching stories of people with disabilities being thrown out of movie theaters and restaurants because the other patrons didn’t want to be forced to look at us – and this still happens today. We also deal with high levels of violence, but no one knows about it. Disabled prisoners, like Freddie Gray (developmental disabilities), Sandra Bland (Epilsepsy) and Brian Sterner, (who was thrown from his wheelchair by police who thought he was faking his disability), died or were killed while in police custody. In fact, 50% of police brutality killings involve people with disabilities.
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Perhaps the one person who can unite us all, as she has heard our voice, is Hillary Clinton, the first woman ever to be presumptively nominated by a major political party for the position of President of the United States. She has done so well at including people with disabilities by embracing our issues, taking them on as her own, saying “disability rights are a human right,” and including us in every speech.
We should join forces with her and let her proverbially stand up for those of us who can’t literally stand up ourselves.
About the author:
Ariella Barker, Esq. received her BBA and JD from Emory University. She worked for many years representing the City of NY and Mayor Bloomberg in employment discrimination lawsuits. She was Ms. Wheelchair NC 2014. After writing the powerful essay Berned by Bernie. Ariella now supports the Clinton Campaign. Follow her Facebook.
This piece is a compilation from her original pice, entitled “Disability Rights is a Human Right” published on Push Living at pushliving.com/...