Or, What if City Hall Gave Awards and Nobody Came?

There is such a continuing difficulty for City Hall's elected officials to respond, socially and politically, to people with disabilities that this is meant to be informal notice for NEXT year's annual celebration of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Not a single elected official, or even "surrogate", bothered to show up for the annual celebration of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act this past Friday. Not ONE!

The event is held EVERY year in the South Light Court at City Hall, making it easy for any and all elected officials, and many appointed ones, to attend.

The South Light court is right next door to the Treasurer's office and just down the hall from the Assessor-Recorder's Office, as well as down only one floor from the Mayor, the City Attorney, and all the Supervisors--as well as only one block from the School Board offices and 4 blocks from the Community College headquarters

WE'RE the people with disabilities; yet, somehow, elected officials can't find their way to a City Hall celebration on behalf of ONE-SIXTH of SF's population? What does that say about their memory, their ability to find their way within the centerpiece building of city government, their [ ? supposed? ] commitment to attend to civil rights issues for ALL protected classes, their overall sense of respect for oppressed and disadvantaged constituencies?

Expect, as self-exculpatory, claims that City Hall officials weren't notified.

Wait a minute! Do elected officials and savvy candidates have to be told about other events celebrating civil rights achievements: Pride Week, Cesar Chavez birthday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, International Women's Day, Labor Day? If they don't get invites to these civil rights commemorations, do they sit isolated in their offices?

Remember, the City Attorney has at least one paid "spokesperson", while the Mayor has an indeterminate number of "surrogates" and media people. Are they earning their salaries by sitting passively behind closed doors, waiting to be courted? It sure doesn't seem as if these "flak-catchers" are doing anything to educate their bosses about the benefits of responding to the "disability" communities.

As well, the Mayor's Disability Council honored city departments that had been involved in lawsuit settlement negotiations over such issues as Laguna Honda Hospital. Deputy City attorneys for various departments were involved in this; city departments and commissions appointed by the Mayor had to agree; and then the Supervisors also had to agree. The Mayor, the City Attorney, and the Supervisors all knew of these disability-related activities. How, then, could they miss the link between settling disability issues and the celebration of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act?

Since there is such a continuing difficulty for elected officials to simply MENTION disability when talking about civil rights and / or diversity, this also is an early notice of intent to have sit-ins and blockades of the offices of many and various City Hall elected officials if they don't show up for next year's annual A.D.A. celebration.

If elected officials are too ignorant, too isolated, too self-important, or too busy to come to the annual celebration of the Americans with Disabilities Act, maybe people with disabilities need to make our presence known in and around their offices next year.

That gives time for city officials to build a case for "conspiracy" by the disabled to get respect.

Think about this. What elected official, or smart candidate for city office, would ignore attending events during Pride Week, Lunar New Year's, Cesar Chavez birthday, Martin Luther King Day, International Women's Day, or St. Patrick's Day or ?????

Political suicide, so to speak, to ignore these influential, and in many cases legally-protected, constituencies.

Will the annual A.D.A. celebration finally get some respect from elected officials--or be the kick-off for a new round of sit-ins and demonstrations such as happened at the old Federal Building's H.E.W. offices in the late '70s?

Elected officials and savvy candidates have a year to respond.