ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, May 22, 1996 TAG: 9605220008
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHI WOLFE
AS A teen, I read my bulky large-type textbooks behind closed doors. Because of the stigma attached to disability, I didn't want my peers to know I was legally blind.
For the same reason, Franklin Delano Roosevelt hid his disability. He made it seem as if he had once had polio but had recovered. In fact, polio left Roosevelt paralyzed.
Roosevelt knew he wouldn't be elected president if the electorate discovered he used a wheelchair. As Hugh Gallagher, author of ``F.D.R.'s Splendid Deception,'' says, ``crippled or not, the nation wanted him as its leader. So an agreement was struck: The people would pretend that their leader was not crippled, and their leader would do all that he could not to let them see that he was.''
The Roosevelt Memorial is perpetuating this deception: It will not show Roosevelt in his wheelchair.
Members of the Roosevelt family assert that their relative should be portrayed as he truly was: a great leader, who had a disability. Those of us who are disabled could not agree more. Today we are no longer ``in the closet.'' We're ``out'' - working, going to school, shopping and, in this election season, running for office.
When Roosevelt was president, a member of the press broke the camera of a photographer who took a picture of Roosevelt in his wheelchair. Today, presidential candidate Bob Dole tells The New York Times how he copes with his disability (his right arm was wounded in Word War II). A Times photo shows Dole using his left arm to shake hands with his supporters.
Other candidates with disabilities are running for office this election. Their views are diverse - ranging from liberal to conservative. Some are Democrats, others Republicans. What they have in common is this: They're not hiding their disabilities, and they don't want to be defined by their disabilities. Take John Callahan, the syndicated cartoonist, who's running as a Republican for state representative in a liberal Democratic district in Portland, Ore. He says, ``Here, being `openly' quadriplegic is less of a challenge than being `openly' Republican.'' Callahan, a moderate on social issues and a fiscal conservative, wants to be judged on the issues - not on his disability. Michele Alioto, a former aide to Vice President Al Gore and a wheelchair user, is running as a Democrat for Congress in California's 1st Congressional District. Alioto says: ``I'm running as an American citizen - not as a disabled person. Disability issues aren't at all in the forefront for me.''
As someone who's disabled, I'm encouraged to see this. It shows we're participating in our democracy: We no longer need to keep our disabilities behind closed doors.
Yet, I don't vote on the basis of a person's disability. My vote is based on the candidate's leadership ability and stand on the issues.
Though things have greatly improved since Roosevelt was president 60 years ago, America too often still stigmatizes those of us with disabilities. Our society frequently sees us as either pitiful or incompetent, solely because of our disability.
This election, let's not vote for candidates with disabilities out of pity or against them because of prejudice. Let's vote on the basis of character and capabilities.
Kathi Wolfe is a free-lance writer living in Falls Church. In 1995, she received a fellowship from the Kaiser Family Foundation and National Press Foundation.
- Knight-Ridder/Tribune
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICSby CNB