Disability History On Display In
Birmingham
by Mary Kay
Kennedy
On Thursday March 31, 2005 disability rights advocates from around
the country gathered at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI)
to celebrate an exhibition on disability rights. The centerpiece of
the six week exhibition (March 8th -- April 24th) is the Disability
History Wall, a 21-panel collage created by St. Paul-based Advocating
Change Together (ACT). Also contributing material to the current BCRI
exhibition are Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE) and the Alabama
People First. Their videos, posters, and various relics capture the
spirit of the modern disability rights struggle, telling firsthand
stories of peoples' struggles and victories.
The Disability History Wall reaches back five millennia to reveal
the lives of people with disabilities throughout history. Viewers experience
powerful feelings as they explore, in pictures and words, the ancient
origins of today's disability stereotypes. The uplifting images in
the last panels give powerful tribute to the human spirit. Here the
viewer finds disability rights activists demanding freedom and equality,
massive rallies for legislative change, and close-up faces of dignity
and power.
The BCRI sees the exhibition
as a perfect fit with their mission. “Making
connections between disability and other civil and human rights struggles
is what this exhibition is all about,” says Ahmad Ward, Head
of Education at the Institute. "It realistically portrays a
long history of institutionalized oppression and helps us understand
disability from a civil rights viewpoint.” Carol Robinson,
ACT board member, traveled from St. Paul to Birmingham to view the
exhibit and speak to those gathered. Robinson was one of several
speakers who made connections between the disability rights movement
and other civil and human rights struggles. Robinson asserts that
a disability focus at the BCRI is not just about looking at past
history, "We are making history because we are saying that
disability is important and deserves the same attention as other
rights struggles."
Ward noted the importance
of this exhibition in the broader struggle. "Understanding
the past in relation to the present and the future is the mission of
the BCRI. This exhibit's look at history from a disability perspective
is significant." He adds, "The Birmingham Civil Rights
Institute takes seriously its role in promoting disability as a
civil rights issue. We are committed to partnering with the disability
community in seeking a deeper understanding of disability from
a minority and cultural perspective.”
My Alligator
(read by poet
Gail Bottoms at BCRI event, March 31, 2005)
My alligator got away yesterday,
Just got out of his pen and slipped away.
The last time I spotted him, he was
going toward Atlanta uptown,
I ran behind him, I ran up and down.
The last time I saw him, he was on the Capitol steps, with people
jumping with screams and yelps. Up the steps and in the door, I couldn’t
see him anymore,
so I went back home and closed the door. He ate all the nursing home
lobbyists on the forth floor,
then he went searching for more.
A little while later I heard something outside, I looked out and
there laid Clyde! I ran to him and stood by his side,
he was so full of money; he laid down and died.
