On Shared Oppression

In recognizing discrimination for what it is, many of our greatest teachers and role models, men and women like Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Sojourner Truth, Mother Jones and Marion Wright-Edelman, Ed Roberts and Justin Dart, Jr. would tell us that what is happening to people with disabilities is not unlike what has been happening to our African-American brothers and sisters since their ancestors were first pirated away from their homeland, their loved ones, and everything they knew to be familiar and safe. They would tell us that what is happening to people with disabilities is not unlike what has been happening to women in many cultures, including our own, in the workplace and home, in athletics, in some religions and especially with regard to personal choices affecting their lives. They would tell us that what is happening to people with disabilities today is not unlike what has been happening to people with disabilities since time immemorial; since we were killed outright or left on hillsides to die as an alternative to living as an assumed burden to our communities (as well as a constant reminder of everyone’s vulnerability and mortality). When our Shared Oppression becomes our Common Ground, the picture starts to look a lot bigger and a lot more interconnected all of a sudden...

A Quote:

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.