TIMELINE:
1990 Americans with Disabilities Act is signed.
1991 Kurt Cobain and Nirvana reinvigorate rock and roll.
1991 School of the Americas (SOA) Watch founded by Father Roy Bourgeois.
1992 Critical Mass (not an organization; it's an “unorganized coincidence”) is founded to challenge the
dominance of the car culture.
dominance of the car culture.
1992 Rage Against the Machine releases their self-titled first album.
48
THE DISABILITY RIGHTS MOVEMENT SAYS:
“PISS ON PITY”
“PISS ON PITY”
Thanks to activists from Lizzie Jennings to Rosa Parks, African-Americans can get on the
bus…and sit anywhere they damn please. “Folks with disabilities,” says Lucy Gwin, editor of
Mouth magazine, “still can't get on the bus.”
Newsflash to those who think Christopher Reeve represented the disability rights movement: The
crips weren't impressed with Superman's search for a cure, they are not pacified by Jerry Lewis'
telethons or legislation that is honored more in the breach, and they want freedom for the two
million Americans imprisoned in nursing homes against their will. Now. Those are among the
many reasons Gwin started Mouth and, as she puts it, “lowered the level of discourse on the
subject of the helping system.” As the crip mantra goes: “Nothing about us, without us.”
bus…and sit anywhere they damn please. “Folks with disabilities,” says Lucy Gwin, editor of
Mouth magazine, “still can't get on the bus.”
Newsflash to those who think Christopher Reeve represented the disability rights movement: The
crips weren't impressed with Superman's search for a cure, they are not pacified by Jerry Lewis'
telethons or legislation that is honored more in the breach, and they want freedom for the two
million Americans imprisoned in nursing homes against their will. Now. Those are among the
many reasons Gwin started Mouth and, as she puts it, “lowered the level of discourse on the
subject of the helping system.” As the crip mantra goes: “Nothing about us, without us.”
133
… YOU'RE NOT
SUPPOSED TO KNOW
SUPPOSED TO KNOW