Archive for January 2009
I have a dream
By Stephen Pate
PEI Disability Alert
January 19, 2009
January 19th is Martin Luther King Jr. day across the United States of America. Tomorrow, January 20th, 2009 the United States will inaugurate its first black president, Barack Obama, the son of Dr. King’s dream. In 1963 Dr. King said “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
I have a dream and my dream is that all people of PEI will be free and fairly included in PEI society whether they have a disability or not. My dream is Dr. King’s dream, it is the dream that God gives us. Dr. King quoted from the bible, since he was a preacher, that all men shall be free, equal and accepted in society, including the disabled.
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Staying upbeat despite all
By Stephen Pate
PEI Disability Alert
January 1, 2009
Being a social advocate is not the easiest job. You are constantly prodding a reluctant government and society to change.
What keeps me going is the progress we have made in just a few years. Certainly the recent passing of Kay Reynolds and thinking about her life’s work spurs me onward. She and others who worked tirelessly for the benefit of others are examples to us even after they pass on.
We have made great progress even in the past two years. When I tried to get anyone interested in the $1 million cutback in disability support spending in 2006, there was nothing but a wall of indifference. Today people are discussing disabilities and other social issues regularly in the paper and in public. Yes the Liberal government has tried to deep-six disability reform but they will not succeed. Ghiz will be gone and we will have significant reform.
Two years ago, people tried to belittle my letters to the Guardian an Graphic about disabilities and seniors without wheelchairs. Today, those are recognized social problems. Poverty is moving from a charity case to a problem we can solve.
