A Red letter Day
Today, September 19 2006, was a major day in my life, and here's why!
It seemed like a lifetime ago to me when I sat in a meeting at the Ritz
Carlton in Arlington, VA, just after Clinton had been elected, and talked
with vice President Al Gore about strategies for making voting accessible to
people with disabilities. Even longer ago when, back in the mid eighties,
Dr. Frank Bow, then director of the American Coalition of Citizens with
disabilities, began to stir the waters of change with the very idea that
people with disabilities must have access to voting poles.
Today, as i walked with my soon to be retired guide, Madeline, into the Old
Woodside School in Burien to cast my first independent and secret ballot, I
was transported back through the years to when the fires of my advocacy soul
burned hot and bright, and to the days when I believed anything was possible
if one worked and believed strongly enough.
As I stood there in my small precinct, I was greeted with joy by the
workers. "O, thank heavens somebody's come to use this, we are so excited
this machine is here" said the Captain. Said another, "Please bare with us,
we haven't used this before but we want to make it possible for you to
vote."
After a bit of uncertainty, they got a voter card ready and handed it to me.
My hands began shaking and my palms began to sweat as i felt the machine and
put the card into the slot. Suddenly, the machine started to talk to me
through headphones, and I was off and voting. I thought of my dear friend
and beloved assistant, Marie, who once helped me vote even though she was of
a completely different party and political philosophy. i remembered how she
guided my hands to the levers in the precinct in Arlington, VA, and showed
me which levers to pull. I thought back on all the people who have enabled
me throughout my life, and who in some small way and some not so small, got
me where I stood today, there at a fully accessible voting machine called
the Accessible Voting Unit, AVU.
With each race, my heart pounded harder and each time it confirmed my vote,
I couldn't believe it, I couldn't believe I was doing this, just me and my
sweet little Madeline guide. She finishes working in less than two weeks,
and I was delighted she could be with me today for this momentous occasion
in my life.
After I finished and confirmed my ballot was right then removed the
headphones, the precinct people came rushing over and everybody hugged
everybody! These people really wanted it to work, they really felt invested
in my ability to vote.
I walked out the door with tears streaming down my cheeks, thinking of my
old friend, Hubert H. Humphrey, who once told me back many years ago in
Washington, DC that I and people like me must never stop working for our
rights because if we did, progress would never happen; I thought of my
friend and mother in blindness, Eunice Fiorito, who taught me so much of
what I know about advocacy; I thought of my mom who instilled in me the
belief from an early age that I should expect and require that my share of
life's pie be an equal share; and I thought of the many people both with
and without disabilities who, from the early seventies, taught me so much
about cross-disability awareness and the value of coalition. I was proud to
be a member of the American Council of the Blind, who have worked so long
and hard on this issue, and equally proud to know that in some very small
way, work I did years back helped bring this day about for me and the
millions of others who, because of disability, have never voted privately
and independently and have never had the fulfillment of their right to a
secret ballot.
it's been a red letter day! It's a day I shall never forget. It's a day
that attests to the fact that change can and will happen with strong, solid
and constant advocacy. I know that Vice President Humphrey, Eunice Fiorito,
my mom and others who have gone but who taught me so much and so well were
with me today! it's their celebration as well as mine! Helen Keller, whom
I admire deeply, once wrote: "Use your eyes as if tomorrow, you would have
them no more." Today in my life, the use of my ears served as my eyes and I
shall never forget the sound of voting with dignity and independence!
Thank you for reading.
marlaina