By, Mel Tanzman Executive Director
One Tuesday November 6th I came home at 6PM after voting at 7AM and spending much of the day surveying polling sites to verify whether they were accessible as claimed by the Board of Elections. The good news was as I pulled up outside my home, we daughter screamed excitedly, “We’ve got Power!!” Yes, 8 days after Hurricane Sandy and living with no heat or electricity, we were quite anxious to return to our modern world. Upon awakening on November 7th and hearing the news of the outcome of the Election, I screamed excitedly to a sleeping house “ Yes! People have the power to make a decision that goes beyond our racial, class and other divisions, and do what’s right for us as a society”
Having made that affirming statement, let me return to my old cynical self and put it in a less optimistic perspective. While it was wonderful to see people coming together during a collective crisis and the government proposing to provide relief in the form of temporary and permanent housing to those who lost everything, a colleague reminded me that many people with disabilities live in crisis every day, residing in nursing homes or with their relatives long after they reach adulthood. It shouldn’t take a disaster like Sandy to make us think about those less fortunate. Let’s work together to provide decent housing and opportunities for all, whether they are suffering in the aftermath of Sandy, or living with a disability that marginalized and disenfranchised them for many years. “ For we’re only as rich as the poorest of the poor, Only as free as the padlocked prison door.” (“Power and Glory”, Phil Ochs).
In terms of the election, while it was heartening to see that the majority of our citizens rejected the anti- big government rhetoric which would have shredded our social safety net, and the politics of fear and prejudice, President Obama still has a lot to prove. Can his leadership overcome the politics of no? No to reproductive rights; No to equal rights for people with different sexual orientations; No to equal pay for women; and No to affirmative accommodations that will allow people with disabilities to live independently in the mainstream of society with equal opportunities as our “temporarily able bodied” friends. High on the agenda must be a national jobs program which is a partnership between the private and public sectors, and which ensures a job for anyone willing and/or able to work. Our infrastructure and our dreams are waiting to be rebuilt. Can our elected officials deliver?