News & Advocacy in Disability Rights

Celebrating Change

By Cyndi Jones, Publisher

Fall is my favorite time of the year. In San Diego it is a subtle change. If you aren't paying attention you will miss it, much like the changes in the disability community.

For years, Bill (a relative newcomer) said there was no fall in Southern California. Maybe notū at least for those who need an explosion of color to announce change of the season. The harsh bright summer glare softens into a warm yellow glow that envelops the city. The autumn light is so wonderful. That touch of briskness in the air. A time of calming and gathering. Life begins to slow down as we prepare for school and settle back into our regular routine.

A time of change.

The other day when I got up to make morning coffee, ants were establishing a beachhead around the sink. (I admit that I had left out a choice morsel for their consumption.) I have found that if you mop them up -- every last one that you can find -- three times (morning, mid-morning, lunch or afternoon) you will deter them from coming back. The next morning, if you mop up the last few stragglers, they will be gone.

What struck me is how determined they are. They just won't go away without many of them sacrificing their lives. They just keep coming back.

This, too, reminds me of our community, only it takes a lot more than three mop-ups to deter us. We just keep going and going. Every time I look around at this community, it makes me proud. We are beautiful, hard working people. But to keep going we all need encouragement and support.

This issue shows a wonderful array of gatherings in July held around the ADA. Everything from individual political lobbying to a couple that believed that July 26th would be the perfect day for their wedding!

Barbeques, rallies, picnics, music, awards galore, and advocacy -- all of it filled with a sense of celebration and unity.

Who could have imagined that people with disabilities would gather to celebrate their disability pride and accomplishments. What a wonderful change has taken place since the ADA!

Are you planning for next year's July 26th? Let us know by April 2, 1999 and we will put it in our June/July 1999 calendar section. San Diego plans are already under way, and we are building to the tenth anniversary of the ADA in the year 2000.

We still need to see more of our community. Then instead of being a subtle change that you notice because you know it is happening, we will be more like the striking full blown change that anybody would have to be asleep to miss.

Cyndi Jones is Publisher of MAINSTREAM.

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