Public Employee Press

Disability Awareness Month marked at DC 37

A keynote speaker, two exhibits and a ribbon cutting with Executive Director Lillian Roberts got Disability Awareness Month off to a good start April 4 at the DC 37 Disability Advisory Committee's first event.

Famous people who overcame disabilities and lived lives of accomplishment - such as Sir Isaac Newton (epilepsy), Louis Pasteur and Alexander Graham Bell (learning disabilities) and tennis great Wilma Rudolph (polio) - featured in the exhibit the committee prepared.

"We celebrate all of them as well as the union members, family members, and co-workers who live with disabilities," said Committee Chair Eileen Muller, the president of Brooklyn Library Guild Local 1482.

Roberts spoke about the battles DC 37 is fighting on behalf of disabled members, including the current court suit against layoffs of workers in the 55A program.

Local 371 member Ramona LaCen told participants of her struggle with dyslexia: "I took part in track and field events and the arts, and this taught me to go the extra mile. Disability is a classification that people place you under. It's what you do with it and how you cope with it that matters."

Umbrella Arts of the East Village, a group that champions underrepresented groups of cultural workers, mounted an exhibit of the work of "Artists with Diversities." The exhibit featured pen-and-ink work by Chris Platt, who has been the subject of two films on artists with autism, and four others.

Muller sought participants' suggestions for ways the committee can advance its mission, which she said is to advocate for disabled members and make the community aware that disabled does not necessarily mean unable.