Freckly Emilie: Rolling Kryptonite Did Not Stop These Guys

Disability. It is a topic that rarely comes to my mind on a daily basis. It occasionally crops up when I see someone in a wheelchair, on crutches, or with a cane around campus and I think how difficult these hilly and stair-induced surroundings would be to maneuver. Never have I thought about disability rights as something that should be discussed on par with women and gay rights. And yet, when we spent a whole class talking about disability with our guest Professor Bill Peace, I realized it is something we should be talking about.

I remember my first encounter with disability as a child. It was in 2004, when the beloved actor and icon Christopher Reeve passed away. I remember pictures of him all over headlines and even though I had never seen him as Superman, I knew that he was pretty important. I especially remember my dad explaining to me that he had been “paralyzed”— a new vocabulary word to my nine-year old self— because he had fallen off a horse and damaged his spinal cord. He had been in a wheelchair ever since the accident. I remember feeling a sense of gratefulness for being able to do something I took for granted every day— being able to walk.

Bill described several occasions when people with disabilities were treated unfairly, poorly, or plain not even thought of. He recounted a moment when a conference about disabilities was taking place in this one location that had no wheelchair accessible entrances. The people in charge clearly had not thought that people with disabilities may want to attend a conference on disabilities, is how Bill worded it. It is little things such as this that I had no idea took place. In my eyes, why wouldn’t we make places wheelchair accessible and help out our fellow humans? But for some, I guess this is a burden, like bus drivers who break their chair lifts so they do not have to take extra time or effort to pick up people in wheelchairs.

I am so inspired by Bill Peace; not only for his undying effort to gain equality for people with disabilities, but also for his passion to live life. He has not let his disability bring him down. (His love of skiing is one thing a klutz such as myself finds amazing) Bill Peace is truly an inspiration because he stands by what he thinks is right, no matter what the backlash. I can only hope that I will someday do the same for something I am passionate about.

Bill Peace and Christopher Reeves are both leaders in disability activism and although the latter played this role on the big screen, I would say they both deserve the title “Superman.”

For more information about Bill Peace, check out his incredible blog, “Bad Cripple.”

For more information about Christopher Reeve’s legacy, The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, click here.