Society and the people with disabilities who are no longer excluded from
working, buying homes and being free to go when and where we want, owe our
gratitude to those who knocked down some of the barriers the disabled faced in
America during most of this nation’s history.
I know
this because I have met some of those pioneers for civil rights for the
disabled.
In my
office at the Macomb-Oakland Regional Center, Adam Fuhrman, 31, of Troy, told
me of how he is buying a home in his hometown in the Oakland County city.
“I started
out in a physical or otherwise health-impaired program in Royal Oak through
fourth grade,” said Fuhrman, who was born with cerebral palsy and uses an
electric wheelchair. He also is driven to and from work daily by a
transportation company.
“I was
mainstreamed in the fifth grade in elementary school,” said Fuhrman, who
graduated from Oakland University with a Master’s degree in counseling and is
the peer mentor coordinator at MORC.
“I was
always treated well,” he said. “The kids knew who I was and we did things
together.”
Fuhrman is
the only child of Janet and Kenneth Fuhrman. His dad works at an auto parts
supplier and his mother is a paralegal in Southfield.
He said he provides “encouragement” to others
with disabilities. “I tell them ‘You have a lot of valuable skills. You are a
very good writer. You connect and interact well with others.'”
Fuhrman
does this so others with development disabilities gain self-esteem and create
the foundation for a successful life. It ain't easy, but Fuhrman is just such an example.
He was a
bit surprised when told that it wasn’t until 1971 that the federal government
passed laws requiring children with disabilities to be provided with a public
education. For civil rights advocates that was 16 years after Brown vs. The
Board of Education which ruled segregating students by race was illegal.
“Of those
I teach, they then use their skills, successes and pass them on to others.”
One step
at a time, one brick at a time and one page read at a time and we walk around
the world, build skyscrapers, and learn the physics of the universe and
psychology of the human mind.
When a
youth, Fuhrman was goalie in a youth soccer ability league.
As for the
future of those with disabilities in America, he said: “I think we are making
programs in the area of gaining full citizenship and equal rights.”
“I think
the term ‘inclusion’ sounds like they are allowing you to be part of something
and they are the gatekeepers whereas full citizenship means everyone has equal
standing.”
He said he
looked for 18 months for a job after he received his Master’s degree in 2007. Fuhrman
said it was through networking that he found a job at MORC, the largest human
services nonprofit in Michigan four years ago.
“We’ve
made a lot of progress,” he says of the disabled, “but there still is that ‘Hey
Buddy’ syndrome” wherein others act condescending to a person with a disability
“interacting with me more like I am a child or adolescent instead of an adult
because they probably perceive that every individual who uses a wheelchair also
has an intellectual disability.”
Eventually,
on his shoulders this writer suspects others will take the time to get to know
us better because we’re are coming into the mainstream of business, education,
and leadership roles in society in a big way.
As for
Fuhrman, his next goal is to find a wife.
“…God
helped provide me with an education, a good job, and a house. I know he’s going
to provide me with a wife someday.”
Jerry
Wolffe, the Disability Rights Advocate/Writer in Residence at MORC Inc., can be
reached at 586 263 8950.
