 All right, we're going to start things off here, so I'm going to make a few announcements and then we're going to hear from everybody else. So thank you for coming. Good afternoon. It's so wonderful to see so many community members here with us today for a featured presentation of our Arlington Reads Together Community Reads Program. Arlington Reads Together was launched in 2002 as a way of bringing Arlington together through literature. The goal is to address issues, understand differences and creating connections through shared experiences. This year's selection being human was picked for all of those reasons and because of the inspirational life story of Miss Human. Judy Human lived an extraordinary 75 years passing away on March 4th. She was a true hero fighting against the injustices in the world and her work in establishing and protecting disability rights leaves a beautiful legacy, one that we will continue to inspire and that will continue to inspire and inform generations of activists. We are all saddened by her sudden passing but we hope to honor her legacy by spreading her message. We must thank our community partners for Arlington Reads Together, including the Arlington Library Foundation, the Friends of the Robbins Library, the Diversity Task Group of Envision Arlington, the Arlington Disability Commission, Arlington Public Schools and Arlington Human Rights Commission. Also as we do before all of our events, we are, I'm going to read our land acknowledgement, we acknowledge that the town of Arlington is located on the ancestral lands of the Massachusetts tribe, the tribe of indigenous people from whom the colony province and Commonwealth have taken their names. We pay our respect to the ancestral bloodlines of the Massachusetts tribe and their descendants who still inhabit historic Massachusetts territory today. Great. So now the reason you all came. So, today, we're going to be honoring Judy Human's legacy with the past, present and future of disability rights. Thank you to James Milano moderator and today we have our speakers Charles Carr of the disability policy consortium, Mariam, some month walla of the senior, she's a senior policy advisor in the Secretary of State's Office of Diversity and Inclusion and Sean garbly Massachusetts State representative from right here in Arlington. Okay, thank you. I'm going to turn it over to James. Great. Thank you, everybody again for being here and also shout out at the outset as we may do at the end as well to Amanda and Anna and the folks at the Robbins library who did have to pivot rather dramatically with the sudden passing of Miss human and have done in an excellent job of putting this event together personally and very pleased and honored to be part of the proceedings. I thought we might start with a quote from Judy human herself. And one I think which sets in a lot of ways kind of sets the perspective that much of this conversation will take. Clearly she said, I'm going to give the quote now disability only becomes a tragedy. When society fails to provide the things we need to lead our lives job opportunities or barrier free buildings, for example, it is not a tragedy to me that I'm living in a wheelchair. I do think that that is something just to stay mindful of throughout the conversation is really. This is a conversation and an issue that is all about simply providing access and equal opportunity to a whole class of fellow human beings who are fine to deal with their own lives, but need to be able to participate actively in the world around them. My three guests as as Amanda has already said that our three guests here are going to be able to speak to the past, the present and speculate at least and speak to the hopes and expectations for the future around disability rights. Not the first time that the individual biography of a person is tied into a larger issue for Arlington reads together for our community reads, but it's really works very very well in this instance you heard Amanda saying things like heroic. And that that that Judy human, excuse me, have lived in extraordinary 75 years I think we're all used to those kinds of terms being bandied about somewhat lightly. I think in this case they are all deserving she was right at the forefront of taking a bunch of folks who are invisible and making them visible and thank goodness for that. I'll start by asking all three of our panelists to think about but start but directing to you, Charles car first. What are some of the, you know, the experiences that you share because I know you were part of this journey as well from the early stages described in Judy humans book. In the early stages of getting disability rights on to the front burner and into the attention in Washington and elsewhere. I know you were again involved in that so if you could just speak to what the origins of the movement or like what your own part in it was and of course how that intersected with Judy humans as well. Welcome everybody thank you for joining us today and so my my relationship with Judy goes back into the mid late 70s. And for me, when Judy was fighting in New York to be acknowledged as a teacher. She was already been certified and she was denied to teach because she was a want to say I think it was a fire hazard. And so she fought she took to the streets. And while Judy was having that fight organizing in the disability community in New York. I was living in an institution. I was I was in. It might be your district Middlesex County Hospital in Waltham. And I lived there from 1971 until 75. So it was for me it was very weird. You know we didn't have the internet and we didn't have the social media that we've got today but finding out about how these battles were playing out. And where I was where a bunch of us were living in an institution in rooms the size of jail cells. So, so I remember working to get the Boston Center for Independent living started in 1974. And it was very selfish it wasn't altruistic. I did it because I wanted to get out. And I wasn't thinking about all this is a great thing for people with disabilities I was more about how can I get out of this hello. And we were able to do it and I at the time would be Ed Roberts who was the director of CIL was very generous with his time and would feel phone calls for me once in a while about things to do inside of the state to get a center up and running. But my intersection with Judy was in 1978 when we had come together and finalized federal funding for centers for independent living that we're going to be a pilot. The government was going to fund 10 and there was a huge huge huge meeting down in Arlington, Virginia. And I was first time I ever flew an airplane was incredible I was probably my 20s. It was incredibly eye opening to me. And when I got into this massive room, just seeing all the people with all kinds of disabilities that I'd never seen in my life. People, you know, just riding around in these Jerry rigged motor scooters and I was just wild. But I remember Judy being on stage, as she pretty much always was. And she was railing out about how we can't let this consumer driven independent living based program be housed within the rehabilitation act, which was a very not a medical model, but a model that didn't embrace control. And she said, we don't want it. And the crowd was just blown away. And nobody wanted it when she explained it to us. But unfortunately, that's where it wound up. But that was the first time I met Judy. And then, I mean, I can go on as we progress. But there's one story I'd like to tell a little bit later about how opposition to Judy from me and others turned out to be a blessing but also up there. Okay, thanks very much. I want to just and we will be jumping around a little bit both chronologically and in terms of looking at different, you know, different ways in which Judy's life and the evolution of disability rights, just have unfolded both kind of dovetailing at times and then also I'd like to talk from other perspectives about again disability rights and with that I'll turn to you. Our representative, Sean Garbley or one of our two representatives here in Arlington and Sean, I know from speaking to you on the record for the last almost 10 years now quite regularly. It's important. The issue is of access equal access for just the broadest possible section of the population to vital things like education, housing, etc. So I just wanted to ask you, Sean, as a legislator for, you know, for your professional life so far, where do things stand and feel free to make reference to the the victories, so to speak, that Judy is the front and center for, but where do things stand at the moment, as far as you're concerned with the state of disability rights here in Massachusetts at least. Well, thank you James for for emceeing this inspiring conversation that's an honor for me to be joined with the other panelists and I'm thrilled that Arlington is able to come together to elevate these conversations and disability rights which is what Judy would have wanted. And so as we mourn her passing, we continue her trailblazing efforts to for full inclusion and trying to come together and making sure we can make that happen. And as James alluded to, for the past 10 years, I've been sponsoring a piece of legislation, known as the Massachusetts Inclusive Concurrent Enrollment Initiative, and Judy was a strong supporter of inclusion in all aspects of disability and also around Section 504, especially in education. And what this bill would do, and it just recently was signed into law, one of the last pieces of legislation Governor Baker signed before leaving office for the first time Massachusetts becomes the first state in the country to allow students with autism and Down syndrome, other disabilities access to public higher education and all 29 public higher education institutions across the Commonwealth. That's it was a huge victory, but as you mentioned in your question James it took 10 years to get passed. Why, why was that, and I'm not going to tell you the person's name, but I can tell you and I know Charlie and other panelists have these kinds of stories and they were certainly mentioned throughout Judy's book that we've read together as a community to introduce this legislation which I actually thought would only take about a year and a half to get passed because who would be opposed to people having access to public higher education here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, someone who I had long expected came into my office the same office that I'm sitting in today to talk to me about the bill, and I was looking forward to hearing from her on how she would be supported and how we could support of of the bill and how we could galvanize support through Charlie and other activists statewide to get this passed and she interrupted me and said, please don't file this bill. And I was shocked and you know I asked her to explain more and she said please don't file this bill, because what you're going to do is lower the standards for general education students across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. And if you ever had those moments in your life where you're stunned and just full of anger and numbness how somebody could be that cruel that that ignorant, especially someone that you had respected. You know, in my own way, my Irish way being the same Patrick's Day weekend, I gently asked her to leave my office because I wasn't going to tolerate that kind of ignorance but what it set up James was 10 years of really fighting for full inclusion. And even though Governor Baker did sign it into law, which is a huge victory, we are far from a victory for realizing full inclusion in education, other aspects of life. But it's a huge step in the right direction. Yeah, and it's worth noting that your own 10 year Odyssey with this particular bill is also mirrored in Judy in what Judy tells us about section 504 and how long it took over the course of several administrations. You know, it again struck me as I was reading the book that she would kind of go on with the narrative and then you realize, oh, two years have passed three years have passed whatever it is and they're, they, you know, still the fight must go on because it just does take that kind of time. Mariam if I could, if I could pull you into the conversation here and just ask you to tell us a little bit I know that you also knew Judy personally on some level, but also you. I'm just going to speculate that you may be a little younger than some of us on this on the call. And therefore maybe have experienced a different way of moving through the field of disability rights but let me just get out of your way and ask you just tell us a little bit about your own journey up till now what you what it is that you are doing and also of course what brought you into contact with Judy and how that was for you. Sure, thank you so much for this opportunity and I want to thank my fellow panelists I really appreciate their perspectives and their championship. I also want to state up front that while I have a day job in the office of the Secretary of State in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. I am speaking today in my personal capacity and any views that I express are solely my own, and not necessarily endorsed by any entity or institution. So, with that, let me let me move to your question. You know, I came to this country, bright eyed as a seven year old from India thinking that life was going to be easy and wonderful and different and not really even realizing that I identified as or should I identify as an individual with a disability. I had been diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa when I was two and a half months old, and everybody in the family, you know and among friends just knew me as the kid with the eye problem. But the word problem is absolutely indicative of the concept of what people perceived and still perceive disability to be a problem to be fixed medically and nothing more, not an identity in which you can and should take pride. So, I had my own journey of self discovery as I lived in the United States, went through the education system, not realizing that things like IEP's individualized education programs and an idea the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act were things to people like Judy. And it wasn't until the very early 2000s that I met Judy and by this time she had already been Assistant Secretary in the Department of Education, working these issues, not from the activist lens but now from the implementation lens. And so I met Judy when I was in sort of finishing college, getting ready to study human rights law in Ireland, and then transitioning from that to law school while simultaneously working on the drafting of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. And before I had gone to Ireland, I had met with a number of people who had been involved in the drafting of the Americans with Disabilities Act, because one of the things we were to work on in Ireland. And at the National University of Ireland, Galway, where I was going to study human rights law was, you know, how do we think about and conceptualize human rights and disability. Where are the intersections, and how do we think about the difference in, you know, the difference people create in civil and political rights versus economic, social and cultural rights. And the fact that that has essentially been dichotomized into separate UN treaties, because disability marries the two in a way that other identities don't do so as obviously I won't say don't do so at all, I would say don't do so as obviously. And so, you know, as I was going through my legal training and my practical sort of application of the law. I was running into people who knew Judy, and then ultimately ran into Judy at a conference in, I believe it was in Norway, when we sat down and had our first real conversation about who we were. The things that really struck out about Judy, right. The thing that she was gifted at was first and foremost the human connection. Because so much about disability rights advocacy about human rights advocacy is in the power of our self presentation. And it's in the power of how we tell our story. And Judy was gifted at that. And she was gifted at reaching out. You know, I had many, many conversations with Judy, after we met. And as I evolved from studying human rights law to finishing law school in the United States to working at a private law firm, and then going to work on the hill for a bit as a legal fellow. And then ultimately, after a short stint advocating for the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the United States, joining the State Department, you know, as the first visibly disabled female diplomat of color. And that's something to ponder at for a moment, too. The State Department is the oldest cabinet agency. It is, you know, hallowed and a storied institution, but it is also at times a state institution. And so to have been someone to, you know, really be identifiably disabled, but also a woman, also of color, also hijabi, right, was a real difference that made me stand out. And I, you know, had a lot of conversations with Judy about challenges within institutions, and how you break down bureaucracy. But the thing that got Judy most excited was when we stepped away from those big picture problems for the moment, and had those inflection points. Where we recognize something equally important and personal. And I, in my personal capacity started a blog called www.theblindhijabi.com. And my first post is about some of those life lessons that Judy taught me and I want to turn to just one of them right now. Judy would often ask me what I was doing for fun, what I was reading, what I was thinking about, and what my love life was at that moment in time and whether I had a love life. Because seeing people with disabilities as full humans with a range of human relationships matters. When can we break down the walls of attitude, attitudinal misunderstandings. You know the classic example that we just heard about lowering the standard of our education. Right. When can we break down those walls. If we can't even understand that people with disabilities are our friends, our colleagues, our partners in life, our lovers. That was a key lesson that Judy left me with. And it was a personal lesson. And it's one that I come back to because there are so many conversations going on about the ugly laws, sex and disability, you know, for sterilization. And all of this is part of our history. And we get really busy thinking about economic and educational opportunities and that is absolutely true. We still need to have that focus. And as we do, I think it's really important and what Judy left me with is a lesson to ensure that we tell our stories and power others to tell their stories, amplify stories. And in our storytelling process, give the full range or the full spectrum of the story because we've got to be understood as full human beings first. And I'll pause there because I've said a lot to ponder and we can talk more about the advocacy piece and what's next, as you elicit us through more questions. Thank you so much. And, yes, I do want to get to the policy piece but so important in what you said there because of the way that it threads in so nicely with Judy's narrative in her book. And let me throw this first to you, Charlie, but also to invite all three of you to speak up and respond to each other as, you know, feel free to do so, please. But let me ask you, Charlie, one of the things I was really struck by and what Mariam was saying just now really, again, brought me back to that in reading being human was that this is first and foremost just a person with, you know, big appetites and a lot of curiosity, and just somebody who who wants to get out there and live her life, like all the rest of us do taking taking that for granted most of the time. And I'm wondering whether you know what your opinion might be about it Charlie or if you could just speak to the fact that it seems like she would have been somebody just because of her personality. She would have been somebody who made things happen, no matter what circumstances she herself was born into the fact that, you know, getting polio at 18 months really kind of dictated a lot of what what might happen in the rest of her life. Clearly was intrinsic to what we're talking about here today. But I do wonder how much of it was just her personality this personality that was, was not going to be kind of it was it was effervescent and it was resilient, etc. How much of what you saw and experienced, etc. has to do with that personality more than the position that, you know, life's forces happen to put her in. I think that, you know, our personalities are shaped by the experiences we go through in life. And from Judy's earliest days, she was rejected for who she was. She was rejected because she had a disability period. There's no sugarcoating it. It's ableism right it's discrimination against people with disabilities to say that this qualified woman couldn't teach in a classroom, because she was a fire hazard, which is, you know, it's just a way around saying what Sean was saying is that she's going to somehow bring down the quality of teachers, for example, in this case. So I think the yes or innate personality is strong, and it's resilient, and it's very proactive. It was really jumpstarted by this whole rejection for who she was, and that anger and that push and that relentless drive that Judy is known for, I believe, came from that early life experience. If she didn't have a disability, she would have gone on to do other incredible things, no question. But we needed her at that moment in time to just to say, you know what, this is not acceptable, I'm going to fight. And the way she fought was not by herself. She was a smart community organizer. And those are the lessons I learned from Judy, how to be a community organizer because, you know, So we started what's called disability justice. And disability justice is basically trying to tear down the walls of ableism and call discrimination out for what it is in an effort to live a full and complete life in the community with all the supports that we need to function, just function, a good education, a good job place to live, the opportunity to, you know, marry have children, all those things. But when you look at that point in time, and you look at this point in time today, we're in a real bad situation. People with disabilities are the largest minority group in the country. We are also the poorest, the most unemployed, and the most marginalized. We've got to fight, fight, fight just for basic equality. So that's something that we've been working on for a long time. And the broader social justice movement and the disability justice movement need to be in step with each other. We need to be incorporated into the larger social justice movement. And guess what? We're not. When you look at any corporate DEI function, very few of them have disability on the forefront, people of color, and women, they even look at class, but you don't see disability in there very often. Those are the kinds of things we've got to change to elevate our issues to the broader social justice movement. Disability is an equal opportunity situation. Anyone from any class, any race, any gender can become disabled at heart beats. And we need to think about that in terms of inclusivity. Thank you. And thanks again also for anticipating where I was going because I did want to speak next about disability justice. What does it mean to you guys? And I want to ask all three of you, but, you know, Sean and Mariam, if you want to weigh in as Charlie just did on this. What are, what do you guys see as the most critical steps now in this ongoing battle for disability rights, inclusion and justice? I want to actually share if I may and react to something that Charlie said because I think it is so important. And it's what I talk about when I speak to, you know, different identity groups, different employee organizations, even within my own institution. Disability cuts across every identity. You could be street white male and have a disability. You could be brown, black, queer, female and have a disability. Jewish, Muslim, atheist, whatever, have a disability. And so, you know, when I think about even reflecting back on reading being human, which I have to confess, I read on a break just a few weeks before Judy passed, and I read it so late because it was a little amusing, right? And I said, I've got to read this book. I've got to make time. And I thought to myself, well, I know Judy so well, I'll get to it. And suddenly I did. And then I texted her and said I finally finished the book and it was, you know, of course phenomenal. And I had, of course, learned so much from it. But the key thing that I took away, and that I continue to talk about is the importance of allyship and coalition building. But in the context of ensuring that we are not playing the game of oppression Olympics. It's not that one person's lot in life is better or worse than the others because of their marginalized or, you know, sort of perceived vulnerable identity. That we all have a common humanity. We all have challenges. Some people's crosses are more visible. Some peoples are less apparent. And here I really speak to also the importance of within the disability rights communities. Recognizing the necessity to really pull in those with invisible or non apparent disabilities. There are so many people among us who rightly fear self disclosing because of the treatment, the inequity that may then be made it out to them, because of the perceptions that people hold. And so as we look at next steps. Building coalitions among ourselves, and then outside of ourselves to the broader social justice communities to the broader identities is going to be so key when I think about what made the San Francisco sit in so wildly successful. And so reflecting back to how the Black Panthers and churches and so many groups that didn't necessarily have disability on the forefront came together. I reflect to a conversation that I had literally just yesterday with someone from care. We were at the Council on American Islamic relations. We were at a conference together. And then we were chatting as we were driving back from that conference. And I said, why doesn't care care about disability issues. Because Muslims with disabilities are going to need cares advocacy to. Get there and tell me. Oh, this is really a disability issue. It's not really a Muslim issue. Right. And the same is true of any other organization, whether it's an organization organization based on religious affinity, or, you know, racial or ethnic identity. If you've got, for instance, a kid who isn't getting the treatment of equity that that kid needs in school. There could be multiple factors. And one of the factors. Yes, maybe the obvious disability. But the kinds of opportunities that kid gets are also dependent on. Their socioeconomic situation based on race, ethnicity, where they're living, the neighborhood, et cetera, et cetera. So if we say we're going to care about disability, and then largely have organizations of, you know, straight white men and women caring about disability that's not going to work. And if we say we're going to care about social justice for particular communities and have those communities at the forefront and not care as a part of that. About community members with disabilities, we are going to fail. All of us. And we're not going to recognize our. And I think the key in survival of the disability rights movement is to embrace and integrate and incorporate intersectional identities, elevate intersectional identities and then embed disability rights within the core of every other social justice organization, it's the idea of mainstream. Inclusion, not just within our schools or education systems, but within our institutions within our nonprofit sector within philanthropy and within social justice movements themselves. Thank you. Thank you. Sean, I wanted to ask you. Maryam has just spoken again eloquently about the importance of allyship in addition to many other important points she made, but I am curious for you as a legislator as a policymaker all three of you clearly involved in policy making. But Sean, as that is your, you know, the main thrust of what you do. What you find one of the, one of the points Maryam just made was the, the fact that disability crosses all other kind of section or distinctions identities, etc. So it made me think that all of us, almost all of us throughout a lifetime may very well be temporarily if not more than that disabled ourselves and realizing for just a second or month or whatever it is, what it is that other people have to deal with all the time we visit that land where people have to live. As you consider all these things. Let me ask you how hard of a lift is it to raise to elevate disability rights and disability justice within the State House here in Massachusetts do you find allies, people not in these circumstances but nonetheless willing to put themselves out for justice for those with disabilities, or do you find that that's a tough sledding for you. Great question James. I think the answers in many ways, the two panelists that are, are with me. They are outstanding advocates for inclusion and they are no strangers to Beacon Hill and advocacy. I remember, at least Charlie I remember testifying before Ways and Means Committee to make sure we are spending our dollars appropriately to lift people up with disabilities and the services that need to go hand in hand. We have a lot of work to do, and we have a lot of room available for people who want to be allies and strong advocates in moving this conversation forward. So I think that's definitely among my colleagues I would like to see more support for individuals with disabilities, but the partners that we have the allies we have are inspiring, and we're going to continue working throughout my lifetime and definitely when it's over the work. It needs to get done. Just a few things that come to mind. James the R word that is so hateful that is rooted in hate is still on the books in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as general law. I believe that here in 2023 that's still the case we have a bill that we're working on to get rid of some of that archaic language. I think what Judy had done so well throughout her life, the, the, you know, play on words of being human and sharing your story with as many people as possible, especially with people that may not want to wanted to have heard that story is just so critically important. And Charlie mentioned earlier briefly about his own experience living in a state institution. I think to look towards the future we need to also reckon the Commonwealth's ugly history when it comes to state institutions. And both panelists were active in supporting a bill that I filed with Senator Barrett of Lexington that we were able to get in the state budget around forming a commission to study the history of state institutions. We have thousands and thousands of people buried in unmarked graves from wall fam to belcher town. And if you look at their graves. It will have a letter, a dash and either P for Protestant or see for Catholic. Those stories, which were very important to Judy human and lifting those stories up. They have never been told. So in many ways those individuals just being in an unmarked grave have been cast as less than human, which is disgusting. But we need to change. So in moving forward, which my panelists have so eloquently stated, and the legislation that we need to advance and priorities not just on legislation but on budgetary amounts of money to lift people up with disabilities. We also have to reckon that past, because that past is not, it's not a good one. It's a it's a it's a sad one. But what we're hoping to do at this state commission is to really elevate those individuals buried in the unmarked graves and trying to make sure people are educated on who that who those people were that they were human that their lives mattered that they have stories, just like I have a story, and you have a story, and it needs and deserves to be told and elevated. Thanks very much I'm mindful of the fact that we've been talking for about 45 minutes now and we do want to leave time for questions and answers of course. But I want to I want to leave you all three of you want to invite all three of you to respond briefly to this one final question that is I have lived in Arlington for a long time. I've been involved in Arlington reads together before I know this community somewhat, and I would say that I would be very, I would be very surprised if people out there in the audience after hearing this conversation are not having thoughts along the lines of Okay, what can I do. What can I do, as a, you know, as an individual citizen what can I do in collaboration with others to advance the cause of disability justice. How do you respond. Can I start with the simple things first. There's so many small simple things that people can do that they overlook. So one of the things people often ask me is, well how does someone with a disability want to be referred to some people are comfortable with the word blind some people want to say low vision or visually impaired. And I always say, read and ask people first. Right. It starts with your in the, you know, very initial individual interactions. Second, have an accommodations mindset, you're in positions where you're working, you're doing different things in the community, and you're, you know, so often you've, you've been taught I mean, even in institutions of faith often we learn about how to be charitable to others. And people with disabilities are tired of charity, we're tired of pity. We have a different narrative. And so reading about disability, micro oppressions, right, reading about ableism, but then also thinking about how you can not have a charity or a pity oriented mindset and how you can treat people as subjects with rights and dignity and not objects of charity is key. Now how do you do that in the practical sense number three, have an accommodations mindset. What does that mean, having an accommodations mindset means just thinking, well how many times have I been working with an employee who says, I've got to pick up my kid at this time from daycare and that's no problem. Right, or someone who has a situation with a particular family member that they're caring for and you say, oh, flex time there, no problem. Right, but suddenly you realize someone with a disability is going to come on to your team or you are trepidatious about all accommodations you might have to make. If you want to hire someone with a disability on your team or, you know, bring them into your school. Again, I go back to Sean's comment about lowering our standards. We don't lower our standards when we accommodate a myriad of other human needs. Why because to us visibly viscerally it's not obvious that it, you know, was in our sort of conception lesser. We're not thinking about disability as equal, not lesser, and having accommodations mindset for all. It's not unique to say, Okay, this person has a disability and you know transportation is, is, or can be dodgy at certain levels and you have a flex day and be just as productive from home as they would have been from the office COVID has taught us telework works very very well in a range of situations, something that people with disabilities have been saying for a long time. Right. So, having an accommodations mindset for all really allows us to include more effectively and and not just include for the sake of inclusion but how can we help people thrive. How can we help people thrive. It's a different mindset different attitude different orientation. That's, that's three really simple active things that that you can do. And the last thing I'll say is come learn come follow come join. One of the reasons I started the blind hijabi calm is I wanted to take from Julie's like Judy's legacy. The importance of storytelling and amplification and amplify her message and the broader message. So think about how you can in your own way amplify that message, and maybe the start is to follow. Thank you so much. Charlie and Sean I do want to give you a brief opportunity to weigh in on this as well. A bias is not. It doesn't come naturally it's inherited the same thing as stigma. There are such enormous stigma toward people with disabilities that you can cut it with a knife today today. I would say to the people in the community listening. If you're a parent of a child or, let's say you're caring for an aging adult at home who needs assistance and services in the community. All of a sudden realize wow, this is really hard to find my mom attended care or, you know, get respirators or oxygen and it's this crazy entangled bizarre way in which we need to navigate just to have the basics in life. So I would say to the parents and young folks and anyone think about people with disabilities as people first. And I would also say, looking toward the future. I can't imagine rep garbly. How many people there are in the State House that identify as having a disability. I would say not very many. And so what that says to me is run for office. If you have a disability, you know, what's an old expression. If you're not invited to the dinner party. You're likely on the menu. And that's been the case all my life. So anyone that's got the passion and the willingness and the spirit of duty to run for public office to set the norm. It ought to be set and cut through that stigma. Do it, because that's how we're going to make change happen is by gaining control over our lives at the highest levels. Thank you. Sean anything to add. Yes, James. Thank you. You know, this has been a really engaged and inspiring conversation. I am fortunate as you pointed out James to represent a town like Arlington in a city like Medford where we have so many active people who care about issues from immigration to climate change to to human rights to criminal justice reform. And I get thousands and thousands of emails and phone calls on a regular basis about issues that are important to my constituents. There are not too many times when I hear from people on issues related to disability. Obviously, I love hearing from them. You know, whether it's Ellen lay who lives in Arlington is an incredible advocate with her dog Ricky on issues that are so important. But you started the question with how can people get involved. And I would absolutely agree with Charlie, you know run for office, even if you want to run against me run for office. I want to hear from you. You know, I want to hear about issues that are important to you. Reach out to your lawmakers on things that are important related to your disability. And so, you know, you know what I want to do with my constituency, even if you don't have a disability yourself or a child with a disability that just as you care about the future of our planet. So you're active and the issue of climate change. You care about human dignity. And that's the value of all of us so you're going to decide to get involved in the movement around disability rights. Thank you, really, from my heart to the three of you for this conversation you have shared both wisdom and insight, but also passion, and I have been moved and I would be very surprised if others haven't as well. I'm going to be reflected in some Q&A coming up here. I'm going to hand it back over to Amanda, who I think has been curating the questions as they come in and let you take it from here. Thanks again you guys for that conversation. Appreciate it very much. Hi, thank you so much yeah thank you this was really great I really enjoyed it. I'm sure to say really that these were so many great points. Okay, so I'm going to check out the Q&A and I know we have some people who are also here for the live stream. Great. All right so one question from Sharon Kurt Chan. I know inclusive language is constantly involving, evolving. What is the current inclusive language, disability, question mark, differently abled, I'm writing a demographic survey for a nonprofit organization and want to be inclusive. Accommodations minded as Mariam said or thank you for the outstanding conversation so I guess what do, what do we think on that question. So the legal term of art to Sharon is persons with disabilities disability is not a bad word. It has evolved from handicapped which was literally the image of a person holding out a hand with a cap begging, and that is not disability. It is not disabled versus what's the opposite of that. It is not able bodied. It is non disabled. I would encourage you to look up on YouTube Judy's interaction with Trevor Noah where she corrects him on The Daily Show in the moment and it's something that I talk about in my reflections of Judy just as she passed. It was a conversation I actually had with Judy about how she corrected Trevor in the moment and why she did it and how she had to do it. But it is not able bodied it is non disabled and there's very specific reasons for, for why we choose that but in terms of a survey persons with disabilities why because the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities uses that phrasing it as the internationally accepted terminology. And again on terminology I say in general if you're interacting with a person, ask them, but if you're looking to craft something more generic, look at the legal terminology that is in use. The one thing that I will say about legal terminology and it's something that I've had conversations with the EEOC about is I don't like the phrase qualified individual with a disability. And I know where that comes from and why it comes. It is part of our unfortunate history of persons with disabilities often being relegated to the lowest category of jobs and then, you know, giving persons with disabilities a reasonable accommodation is still sometimes perceived as a privilege or a benefit and not a right, but it is a right. And so you don't put qualified African American you don't put qualified woman. You don't put qualified individual who is female. You don't put called qualified individual who is an LGBTQI plus community member, but somehow it's okay to say qualified individual with a disability and what that sends a signal of is exactly what Sean was talking about. You know, the reason we need to put qualified in front of this phrase is because there's an assumption that if you create inclusion for persons with disabilities you're lowering the standard, and that is simply not true. So, you know, that is the one legal term of art that I personally take umbrage with. But that said, that is the legal term of art. And so look for, you know, what is the standard and in the context of disability as persons with disabilities over. I was on a webinar, a couple of weeks ago in the mass historical society that's doing a disability series. And I was with a group of teachers and I dropped a bomb on these folks, because I started to talk about special ed. Why do we call it special ed? Why are we so special? Let's just call it an education that accommodates our disabilities. I'm so tired of seeing people with disabilities, you know, put a, you know, inspirational. Yeah, Judy was inspirational, but, you know, we're people. We deserve an education. It's the law. It's our right. It's not special. I want to be in the classroom with my kids my own age, not pulled out constantly, get the supports you need in school, and stop with this special stuff. It's just not helpful. It's that charity mentality that was mentioned. That's great. Thank you. Okay, let me go to our questions. We have a lot of, we have a lot of very nice comments also. I just wanted to say which a link Cole mentioned at any point in time people with disabilities are the largest minority, yet by considering lifespan experience we are a majority experience most non disabled folks are more accurately not yet disabled, which I thought was a big that was a big takeaway I also took away from the book which had been mentioned before. Just that it at most people at some point in their lives can become disabled. Yeah, let's see. Oh, yes, I'm sorry my name is Amanda Troha I should have introduced myself at the beginning somebody just ask what is my name. My name is Amanda Troha I am the assistant director here at the Robbins library I was so focused on introducing everybody else I forgot to introduce myself, but thank you everybody thank you for asking that question. And so I'm going to get some questions from the room downstairs. Let's see what we have. Sorry, and I also just waiting on this, but yeah thank you I also I thought that was a really great takeaway from the book. Thanks. Somebody also mentioned, there we go Anna hi. Thanks so much we have a question here from the room just it's very exciting we have 12 people down here enjoying the conversation as well. Everyone is loving it. A question from the room specifically for Charles, a person here in the room has wants to follow up with Charles about the disagreement he mentioned that he had with Judy on a policy issue but how it ended up being a good choice. And I think that's always like one of the things of course that this book really focuses on is how is working to create policy is working across to create coalition I just love to hear that answer as well. And before you answer Charles Charlie, can I just say thank you to whoever that person was because I knew that that was still hanging out there and I really wanted to find out as well so yeah I'll make it quick. Like any community of people, there are always disagreements and nobody is always on the same page. I would incorporate it and was involved with a group called the National Council for independent living. And principally it was white men with physical disabilities. It all has a reasons why that is what it is but I won't go into it. Anyway, in the late 80s. I chose to run for president of it's called nickel for short. And I ran because the person running was just abhorrent. And I had no interest in giving so much of my time and energy, but I just felt like I had to. I worked really hard organizing getting support, finding delegates, you know, making sure that I was going to whip this guy right. And it all looked great so we got down to DC at the conference. And I had gone up to several women and said do you want to run you interested in running. No, no, no, no. So the night before the actual vote took place. Miss human blew in from her apartment gathered all the women together and said no, this ain't going to happen. You guys are going to run a woman. So they ran Mark of Bristol. And Mark is a close friend of mine, God bless her. And I just went over to her and said, Mark, what happened. And she said, Judy happened. So Judy basically said, you know, Mark, you're running. So she ran. And right away I could read the tea leaves I knew it was coming. Oh, and that night, each delegate got each person running got a chance to speak. And Judy human got up on that stage and railed into white men with physical disabilities for 20 minutes and this this this time was over. So the day of the vote next day. I got up I was the first person to be able to make an announcement. And I said that I, I want to release all my delegates. And I ask you please to vote for Mark of Bristol. I stepped down because one it was the right thing to do. And to Mark it was perfect. And three Judy was behind it was kind of happen. So Mark of Bristol, one by a country mile, but I was so upset at the time that this sort of blindsided me, but now looking back it was the best thing ever. Thank you for sharing that. It's a good, it's a good story. I have to say in having to change the this event, because of Judy's passing. I'm so impressed by how many people she really did touch how many people I contacted who said like oh well you know I knew Judy or this person new Judy she really had just seemed to know. It was amazing how many people had a story or something and if they couldn't be part of the panel but just wanted to share like oh you know I met Judy here this and really personal not just like I met her once and she was so great but seemed to have a real personal connection and I you know that's a real big legacy and shoes to fill. But so that is going to be as us it from us today I just want to say thank you so much to all of our panelists today thanks to James Milan for moderating from ACMI. Thank you, Charlie Carr for coming today. Thank you Sean garbally and thank you, Mariam Simone to walla. I really enjoyed this conversation as I know all of our patrons did as well. I hope that somebody learned we all learned a little bit today somebody did comment the word non disabled already they thanked you for that comment, because it's a great. Such a simple way you know language really does mean so much as, you know, as a librarian and a reader and a lover of the word spoken word. I just having that language really does mean a lot. So thank you so much. Thank you for attending this ART event if you want to check out any of our other events please go online, and that's going to be it from us today. Thank you so much. Thank you panelists and thank you for coming out on a Sunday. Yes, thank you. Thank you. Pleasure to do this. Thanks.