YOUR ATTENTION & ASSISTANCE ARE NEEDED NOW
ACTION ALERT
To: Disability Leaders and Concerned Citizens
From: Alan A. Reich, President, National Organization on Disability
Jim Dickson, Director of Community Affairs, National Organization
on Disability
Date: February 25, 1998
On Monday, March 9th at 10:00 am the Department of Interior's FDR Memorial
Advisory Committee will hold an open hearing at the National Capital
Planning Commission at 801 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, 3rd floor to receive
public testimony on the addition to the FDR National Memorial depicting
President Roosevelt in a wheelchair. This Committee is charged with making
a recommendation to the Secretary of Interior on the location of the
addition, its form and who the artist will be. As you know, N.O.D. led the
campaign calling for a depiction of FDR in a wheelchair in the memorial.
This campaign resulted in legislation signed into law by President Clinton
on July 24, 1997, requiring that FDR be depicted in a wheelchair in the
memorial. The legislation directs the Secretary of Interior to "plan for
the design and construction of an addition of a permanent statute,
bas-relief, or other similar structure to the memorial to provide
recognition of the fact that President Roosevelt's leadership in the
struggle by the United States for peace, well-being, and human dignity was
provided while the president used a wheelchair."
The Committee has met three times and is nearing its formal
recommendation. Now is the time for us to step forward to make sure that
our voices are heard. This is our opportunity to tell the Committee that
Americans with disabilities will settle for nothing less than a prominently
placed statue, sculpted by an artist with which the disability community
can feel comfortable.
We are asking you to attend this meeting and make a statement to the
Committee addressing such issues as:
· The importance of showing FDR in a wheelchair;
· The addition should be prominently located;
· It should be a free-standing statue and why;
· Ask the Committee to move rapidly on placing the statue in the memorial.
Every day that passes more people visit the memorial without knowing that
FDR led the nation and the world from his wheelchair.
If you can attend and would like to speak, you should register in advance.
You can *CALL* the Office of Stewardship and Partnerships of the National
Capital Region of the National Park Service at 202-619-7025 OR *SEND E-MAIL*
to [log in to unmask] until 4:00 on Friday, March 6, 1998.
Those who register in advance will testify at the meeting in the order of
their registration. Those who register at the meeting will be called in turn
in the order of their registration. So, please call early and register.
Speakers are requestedby the Park Service to limit their remarks to 3 minutes.
Written testimony will be accepted at the meeting and should be addressed
to Mr. John Parsons, Associate Superintendent, Stewardship and Partnerships,
National Park Service - National Capital Region, 1100 Ohio Drive, SW, Room
220, Washington, DC 20242. You can also e-mail written comments to Mr.
John Parsons
at [log in to unmask] Written comments will be accepted until
March 27, 1998.
We would appreciate receiving a copy of your written testimony. Please
fax us at 202-293-7999 or 202-293-0891, or cc an email copy to
[log in to unmask] If you would like advice in preparing your
testimony, contact Jill Jacobs at 202-293-5960 or email her at the address
above. Also, if you plan on attending, after registering with the Park Service,
please contact Jill Jacobs to alert her. She is keeping a head count of
attendees.
The closest metro is Archives-Navy Memorial. When you come off the
escalator, go straight, then cross the Navy Memorial. The building is on
the right. If you take the elevator, go straight, pass the escalators, and
cross the Navy Memorial. The building is on the right. The accessible
entrance is on the right side of building.
Let's make sure that we remind the Department of Interior what we want - A
Statue of FDR in a Wheelchair. As the world's first and only depiction of a
statesman in a wheelchair, this statue must project forcefully to visitors from
all countries the message that in America a person with a disability can rise
to the nations highest office.
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Dear Listers,
You may have seen the Alert I posted earlier. I want to comment to let
everyone know just how crucial it is that YOU make your opinion heard on
this issue. The decision point is now.
As you all know, people with disabilities worldwide pulled together and made
their voices heard last spring in order to get legislation that promised a
depiction of FDR in his wheelchair would be included at the national
monument in the USA.
The legislation passed to put a depiction of FDR in a wheelchair at the
memorial. However, the language of the legislation did not say "STATUE"
(believe me, we TRIED to get that language in there...). The problem now is
that some of the members of the Memorial committee want something OTHER than
a statue -- perhaps a bas relief, perhaps a mural. It is ABSOLUTELY KEY that
people with disabilities express their opinions about this.
Really, this is the EASY part. The legislation is in place, now our
opinions about specifics can be heard. The e-mail address listed for the
National Park Service [log in to unmask] is a good address. You will
not get your basic autoresponder e-mail. A *real* person, who is *really*
collecting this information so that it can *really* be considered will get
your message. NOD is asking that everyone cc a copy to me (at
[log in to unmask]) or via fax (202.293.7999 or 202.293.0891) so that we
can also help to keep track of public thought on the Memorial.
If you can make it to the hearings, please do. Give me a call or send an
e-mail if you want some assistance on getting your testimony together.
This is our chance to get a STATUE of FDR in his wheelchair in the national
memorial. I know I will certainly be testifying. I look forward to the day
that I can take my son, Collin, (who uses a wheelchair) to the memorial and
let him see that he really can reach for his dreams!
Jill Jacobs
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To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men. ~Abraham
Lincoln
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The hope of the world is still in dedicated minorities. The trailblazers in
human, academic, scientific, and religious freedom have always been in the
minority. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
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