Guest:  Sarah Lanzo

Topic:  Olmstead Celebration, Judith Heumann, Crip Camp, A Disability Revolution

Duration:  5:49

Published:  June 9, 2020

Host:  Welcome to Independent Perspective, a public affairs presentation at Western New York Independent Living (WNYIL). Our guest today is Sarah Lanzo, Director of Independent Living of Niagara County (ILNC), and your host is yours truly Ernie Churchwell. Welcome to the program.

Guest:  Thanks, Ernie.

Host:  And you're here because every year at this time, the Niagara Falls center tends to have an Olmstead Celebration, nothing to do with Olmstead Parks but with the Supreme Court Olmstead Decision that guaranteed people with disability have a right to the least restrictive environment in where they live and we consider that to be a really major building block of independent living. But this year is somewhat special because you've managed to get a guest who is an internationally known disability civil rights advocate who also figured in a Netflix documentary that you're going to be sampling called Crip Camp, A Disability Revolution. Boy that's a long introduction, could you tell us more about Judith Heumann?

Guest:  Thanks Ernie, yeah, you basically laid it all out for me, thank you so much. So yeah, we are looking forward to celebrating, our agency does our Disability Pride event around the Olmestead Celebration and we are very excited this year to have a virtual opportunity for everybody to participate from their home. We're sad to not be able to do our normal picnic but we're excited to have this opportunity to celebrate with Judy Heumann who as you stated is an international disability rights leader, and in her own right, she has really made an imprint in the disability rights movement for since she was very young, and as you stated Crip Camp, A Disability Revolution is a true story of Camp Gen Ed, which was a real camp that was actually here in New York State in Hunter, New York. And it served as the birthplace of the disability rights movement in the east coast. So, it's pretty awesome Judy was actually a counselor there, and it was her beginning in the disability rights movement. So, the movie actually offers an opportunity for people to see her at the very beginning. But if you're not familiar with her, she has many, many successes under her belt. She was actually the Deputy Director for seven years at the first independent living center in the nation at Berkeley, California. And for that reason, clearly, we're very interested in her because she has her roots, doing what we do here at the Independent Living Center. She also as a wheelchair user Judy actually took the New York City Board of Education to court in 1970 because she was denied a teaching position due to her mobility impairments. In that same year she founded Disability In Action in the Big Apple, which is pretty amazing and that was a very well-known organization. She also was the legislative assistant to the chairperson of the US Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare and she helped develop legislation on an idea which was Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is an idea that's still looked at today, that's pretty amazing and so we're super excited to have her coming. And I don't think I told you when yet did I?

Host:  No, you did not.

Guest:  So, just so you know, this is all an option to be part of the conversation, and that you can come out and participate with us on Go To Meetings on Thursday evening, Thursday, June 25 at 6:00 p.m. You can come out, be a part of the conversation with Judy. You just need to email Jillian Moss at jmoss@wnyl.org, that's jmoss@wyil.org or you can call 716-284-4131 extension 146. And the other thing that we're doing to make it more accessible for everybody is we're having a viewing party on Monday and Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. as well. And if you want more information about that you can also email Jillian or call her. So, it's jmoss@wnyl.org, or you can call 716-284-4131 extension 146 and we hope to see you there.

Host:  That sounds exciting and thanks for being with us to tell people about.

Guest:  Thank you, Ernie.

Host: You've been listening to Independent Perspective, a public affairs presentation of WNYIL. Our guest today was Sarah Lanzo, Director of ILNC, and your host is yours truly, Ernie Churchwell.