Editor's Column
by
Tim Benjamin
Once again, the Charlie Smith
award banquet was a fabulously
enjoyable event. The winners of the Charlie Smith award were Jim
and Claudia Carlisle, the founders of People Enhancing People. Many
of us have benefited directly from Jim’s
and Claudia’s efforts, and their actions have motivated others of us to
act for our own empowerment. As several speakers said that night, Jim and Claudia
exemplify what we can do when we recognize our interdependence. Jim and Claudia
embody independence; at the same time, they are interdependent with one other,
and with the individuals who they help and who help them through their daily
living. The Carlisles in turn have helped many of us in the disability community.
In the 1960s, when Ed
Roberts was trying to force the University of California to accept
him as student, he said that he and the whole disability community
just got stronger and stronger as more people came to see that
severely disabled people were going to the University of California,
Berkeley. And the university began to see that the future was in
serving more people with disabilities. The disability community
had now gained political clout; others had to respond in a much
more realistic way. Jim and Claudia took that kind of a risk when
they started dreaming of People Enhancing People. By their actions,
they gained political clout and all kinds of people began to listen
to them. As a result, we now have People Enhancing People, a PCA
Choice agency. After listening to those who spoke about Jim and Claudia,
I realized that the Carlisles were like Ed Roberts in another way.
He once said that the word “No” is a very interesting
word, and that he’d learned that the word “No” means “Yes” sometimes.
Jim and Claudia would not accept “No” as an answer to
their requests for independence—and they created strength through
interdependence.
Mary Kay Kennedy and JoAnn Cardenas Enos were also celebrated for
their long-term commitment to the Access Press Board of Directors.
Mary Kay and JoAnn have been wonderful mentors to me, and have taught
me a lot about the finances and organizing of a nonprofit. Access
Press would not be a strong community paper today without the drive
and motivation of these two former board members.
I hope everyone enjoyed
themselves at the award banquet, and I hope those who couldn’t
come will join us next year. For five years, we have enjoyed a
beautiful celebration of communication in the disability community.
We are grateful for the wonderful hospitality of David Glass, owner
of Black Bear Crossing, as well as Kathy Anderson, banquet manager,
and the fantastic staff.
Finally, I want to add
to the thanks I offered at the banquet to all the board members
who have served the paper—and helped
me—throughout this past year. I am also grateful to the paper’s
excellent staff and to all the hard-working volunteers who have made
this an exciting year for Access Press. And many thanks to the issue
sponsors that have helped support Access Press this year.
Minnesota State Council on Disabilities (MSCOD) and Metropolitan
Center for Independent Living (MCIL) also had their annual banquets
this last month. We want to congratulate and thank everyone in those
organizations for their years of good work for the disability community.
Anita Schermer and Luther
Granquist are writing a book: a history of people with disabilities
in Minnesota. Their interest in the history of disability took
them to the recent Department of Human Services’ recognition
of the history of state hospitals and nursing homes in Minnesota,
with the theme of “Honor the Past, Embrace the Present, Create
the Future.” Ending the inhumane treatment that took place
in our state hospitals, as described in the article, is definitely
worth celebrating. Thank you, Luther and Anita, for all your good
work and years of dedication to people with disabilities. We wish
you all the luck in the world on your book venture. We’ll be
waiting for a signed copy. ![]()
