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Show Article intended for Utah Magazine, Approximately 2000 words general interest, age 25 and up. HANDICAPPED AWARENESS--1976 Dan and Nancy Herbert, both paraplegic-amputees, sat in their wheelchairs in their living room with other paraplegic friends. Dan read aloud: ". . .We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator, with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. . ." "Who do they think they're kidding?" John lashed out. "We don't have the right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness." "Now John, no amendment has taken these rights away. So we have the right to ensure our rights. Handicapped people have been shoved into the back room. It's time we did something to get back into the flow of society." "Nobody will listen to us," John insisted. "We'll organize-make them listen. We could cripple the able-bodied if we filled the Capitol Building with two or three hundred handicappeds in wheelchairs during legislative sessions." Dan laughed at his own mental picture. "Utah is way behind." A look abroad emphasizes the fact that the United States is far behind European countries in their accommodation of handicapped citizens. In Sweden and Denmark particularly the government provides architectural-free buildings, suitable housing, medical care, recreation and transportation. Traveling in other states bears out the fact that Utah ranks low. |
