This was forwarded to me by another list I'm on, thought I'd post it
in case there is anyone who hasn't come across it.

Rayna

MANIFESTO FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

We proclaim that we are born free and equal human beings; that our
disabilities are limitations only, and that our identity does not
derive from being disabled.

We proclaim that we have the same value as people who are not
disabled, and we reject any scheme of labeling or classifying us that
encourages people to think of us as having diminished value.

We reject the idea that institutions must be created to "care" for us,
and proclaim that these institutions have been used to "manage" us
in ways that non-disabled people are not expected to accept.

We particularly denounce institutions whose purpose is to punish us for
being disabled, or to confine us for the convenience of others.

We reject the notion that we need "experts," to tell us how to live,
especially experts from the able-bodied world. We are not diagnoses
in need of a cure or cases to be closed. We are human, with human
dreams and ambitions.

We deny that images of disability are appropriate metaphors for
incompetence, stupidity, ugliness or weakness.

We are aware that as people with disabilities, we have been considered
objects of charity and we have been considered commodities. We are
neither.  We reject charitable enterprises that exploit our lifestyle
to titillate others, and which propose to establish the rules by which
we must live without our participation. We also reject businesses that
use us as "warm bodies" to provide a passive market for their
services, again laying down rules by which we must live for their
profit.  We recognize that the lines between charities and businesses
are blurred in the disability industry, and we do not accept services
from either if their essential function is to exploit us.

We assert our rights of self-determination in the face of rules,
eligibility criteria, regulations, customs, laws or other barriers,
and we pledge not to allow any authority or institution to deprive us
of our freedom of choice.

Finally, we assert that any service we need, from specialized teaching
to personal care, can be provided to us in the community among our
non-disabled peers. Segregated institutions are not necessary to serve
us, and they have been the greatest source of our oppression,
especially when they have been run by able-bodied people without our
participation.

All human beings are more alike than we arem different. We recognize
that when we assert this belief we will find ourselves in conflict with
regressive institutions and their supporters, some of whom may be
disabled themselves.

We do not expect thousands of years of stereotyping to dissipate
quickly. We commit ourselves and those who come after us to challenge
our oppression on every level until we are allowed to be fully human
and assert our individuality ahead of our disability.


                    By John R. Woodward, M.S.W.
                    Center for Independent Living of North Florida, Inc.

This document may be distributed freely in electronic format.