Editor's Column
by
Tim Benjamin
The protest
on March 23 calling
attention to Peter Singer’s disability philosophy during his
speech on vegetarianism and animal rights at the University of Minnesota
was a perfect example of how the disability community can come together
to voice their opinions. I was very proud of all 50 or so of the
people who got involved and spent an evening in the cold to show
their commitment to our community. Thank you, everyone, and big thanks
to Emily Smith and the University of Minnesota’s Disability
Student Culture Center for all their organizing to make this event such a success.
Thanks to Katheryn Ware, too. She gave a very passionate
speech explaining how
in Singer’s view people with disabilities,
like her son, are non-persons.
Thomas Murray, a first-time
writer for Access Press, has done an article on resistant
infections that are spreading throughout the population.
These bacteria at one time were most prevalent in hospitals and
nursing homes but today the general population is being exposed
more and more frequently. One of our local hospitals is doing a
pilot program to study how hospitals can reduce the spread of infection.
In the next couple months, I’m hoping that we
can get some more information about this program and how well it’s
working. Tom, thank you for the article and I hope we will be seeing
more of your byline in months to come.
What’s happening on Minnesota’s Capitol Hill? We will
be working on a summary for next month’s paper of legislation
in this session that will affect the disability community.. As always
at the Capitol, things move very slowly until the final explosion
nearing the end of the session—then decisions are made quickly.
All of our dedicated, award-winning lobbyists with the Citizens Consortium
for People With Disabilities (CCD) have been keeping long hours to
make sure our legislators are well informed about disability issues.
Join them on your organization’s lobby day at the Capitol,
or drop in on your own legislator any time.
We are planning some
changes in Access Press’s presence on
the Internet. We have had great success with our Web site and we’re
hoping we can create more interactive opportunities for you to have
input on articles and to let us know what is of interest to you.
We’re hoping that a new interactive Web site will allow our
readers to post their own articles and comments. If any of you have
expertise, or suggestions on how we might best achieve some interactive
opportunities for Access Press, please give us a call at 651-644-2133.
On March 11, United
Cerebral Palsy held a wonderful fundraising
event at the River
Center. I hope they reached their goals; it was a great experience.
I look forward to next year’s race.
Congratulations are
in line for Minnesota’s wheelchair
basketball team. All the athletes deserve our applause, as well as the coaches
at all the sponsors. Thanks, guys, for the wonderful effort.
This month’s focus
is on autism, a condition that describes a range of disabilities
and special abilities, and one that science is only beginning to
understand. Be sure to check out the Web resources we provide and
get to know more during Autism Awareness Month.
Scott Adams, Access
Press’s longtime cartoonist, has volunteered
to work with staffer Terri Ricci to update the “Directory
of Organizations.” If your organization would like to become a
part of the directory for our next quarterly insert in July, call
the office and we can give you the details on how to be included.
Many individuals as well as organizations cut out the Directory to
pin up on their bulletin board and keep as a handy reference of resources.
We are very proud of the Directory of Organizations; it’s the
brainchild of our founder, Charlie Smith. We would love to include
your organization or association. Thanks, Terri and Scott, for your
dedication to this project.
