Talking with a leading disability rights activist
From: J Weekly - 01/15/2015
By: Alix Wall

Interview with Marilyn Golden, Senior policy analyst, Disability Rights
Education and Defense Fund

"The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, based in Berkeley, is a
foremost national law and policy center on disability civil rights. We work
on policy such as the Americans with Disabilities Act — which I had the great
honor of participating in the development of — and other training, technical
assistance and disability rights litigation. I’ve been here since 1988."

"People recognize that many of us have unconscious prejudices about race and
gender, but do not recognize that many of us have unconscious prejudices
about disability. People assume what they feel about disability is accurate.
A common 'gut feeling' is that our lives are terrible, or that one would be
better off dead than disabled. Or people are surprised when we function with
any level of competency. These are prejudices that, by and large, people and
society don’t recognize."

"The disability community is very much at risk — as our lives are not deemed
to be as valuable as others — but we’re not alone in the risk. There’s also
significant risk of elder abuse. An heir or an abusive caregiver can steer
the person toward assisted suicide, pick up the lethal dose and, in the end,
even administer it to them because no witness is required at the death."

Read the entire article at:
http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/73674/talking-with-a-leading-disability-rights-activist/

Link:
Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund
http://dredf.org/