New Hampshire just experienced the foremost exercise in grassroots democracy with our first-in-the-nation presidential primary. Everyone got a chance to see candidates up close and personal. We all heard about the hype that every citizen could shake the hand of all the candidates – look them in the eye and ask a question before casting your vote.
Is that really true or just a myth – made up for the rest of the world to think we here in New Hampshire are all about equal access for all?
Can any citizen of New Hampshire truly see every candidate they want to in their own hometown? The answer to that question is only partially true. If you are able to climb up steps and walk anywhere any “able bodied” person can, answer with an unqualified “yes.” But if you have a disability, then the answer is “maybe” on a good day and “no” more often than everyone wants to admit.
New Hampshire’s dirty little secret is that we have a class system when it comes to accessibility for people who are physically challenged.
The Americans with Disabilities Act became law in 1988, when U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin worked with President Ronald Reagan to open the world up for people living with disabilities. It was heralded by everyone as the beginning of the end of discrimination toward people with physical challenges – it showed people with disabilities that they had worth too.
Unfortunately now, 30 years later, political candidates have pushed those with physical challenges into the shadows once again.
And it isn’t just national campaigns – state candidates are even worse. We’ve lost count of the state candidates who, when asked if the event they invite us to is accessible, look at us with a quizzical gaze and tell us to wait for another later event and they will try to see if we can get in.
Our question to all these candidates is this: Would you tell a person of color or a member of the LBGTQ+ community that they should wait for another event and maybe you can get them in?
Are these political candidates telling us that a person who is physically challenged has no worth?
And telling us that we have to enter through the door where the trash comes in or that someone will carry us in just is not acceptable – it is demeaning and humiliating. We don’t want to come to an event and enter like a piece of garbage. If that is how you view us then our support is not very meaningful to you.
We are human beings with minds, with hearts, with valuable opinions and with feelings – don’t treat us like garbage. If you think we are trash and worthless, don’t ask for our support and don’t invite us to your events and don’t ask for our contributions.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest state profile, 23.7% of New Hampshire’s population have some type of disability. Over 10% of New Hampshire’s population have serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs, 6% have deafness or serious difficulty hearing, and another 3.6% are blind or have serious difficulty seeing, even when wearing glasses; and all of these folks have family members. So give serious thought about if you want to write off this segment of New Hampshire’s population when you plan your events.
We are not going to be quiet and let you abuse us any longer.
(Katherine Rogers of Concord, Tamara Le of North Hampton and Cecilia Rich of Somersworth serve in the New Hampshire House of Representatives.)