STUDENTS TO RALLY AGAINST DISCRIMINATION
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
April 13, 2001

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS--Students with disabilities around the country will be
making a statement against discrimination next Tuesday, as they participate
in a nation-wide "Leave-Out".

The action is being organized by the National Disabled Students Union, a
grass-roots group that in just nine weeks has gained members from primary
and secondary schools and colleges and universities across the country,
along with independent students.

"In two months, we've gone from being an idea in a few students' minds to
having members on more than sixty campuses," says Sarah Triano, NDSU's
co-founder and disability studies student at the University of Illinois at
Chicago.

NDSU was founded on February 21, 2001, in response to the U.S. Supreme
Court's ruling in Trustees of the University of Alabama v. Garrett et. al.
that state employees facing disability discrimination at work cannot sue
their employers for damages.

"The Garrett ruling will make it harder for today's students with
disabilities to become tomorrow's workers," the group claimed in a press
release. "The Census Bureau reports that 50 percent of non-institutionalized
disabled people in America are unemployed, and those who do have jobs make
less money than the nondisabled."

NDSU has scheduled the action, in which students with disabilities and their
allies will be leaving their classrooms and libraries, for 1:00 p.m. Eastern
time, Tuesday April 17.

"The people's right to equality comes before the states' right to
discriminate," says Triano. "We're building momentum and pride, and we will
insist on equality."

For more information, you can contact Triano at 773-463-4776 or by email at:
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From the Friday, April 13, 2001 edition of Inclusion Daily Express
the disability rights daily news service.
http://www.InclusionDaily.com
Dave Reynolds, Editor
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