Think. That is wonderful with social distancing its great to see we can get it done and it was an honor truly to read your book it is a running theme people who should know say i had no idea people joining the conversation tonight on what your fight has been about and the changes you have made to give People Perspective compare and contrast what it was like as a young person coming into the world with a disability and what it is like now. On the one hand the difference is very significant because i had polio 1929 in brooklyn just the beginning of television and to recognize the Important Role so there were no lies that protected the rights of disabled people there werent that were protecting the rights of other minorities there werent that were protecting the rights of other minorities point it was unusual but people were looking at disability as a medical issue and not carrying it so there wasnt a lot of activity going on to look at discrimination as that componen component. So the beginning of my life as jewish german refugees after my father left the marines at the end of the war and we lost relatives. So when they got married they were looking to set up a family and then my mother was pregnant and in 1949 she was eight months pregnant and then i father opened a Grocery Stores everything was thrown up in the air. While they didnt know any other families they had no idea what was about to happen. But they decided they wanted me prior to my birth. Because i couldnt walk and they said it was a fire hazard but then then when i was nine years old in between i only had a few times a week so today we have laws on the books that make what would happen to me then ill legal so in 1975 there was an important law in the area of education , 1973 section 504 and to give Additional Information its different in many ways i would say specifically because of all the antidiscrimination laws and affirmative action laws people had more opportunities that they did but looking at discrimination against any group when society discriminated based on religion or race or disability so what has been happening is to organize more to become empowered and reaching out into general society. We want to be equal members in the community. And the movement itself moving away from the medical model and social justice. Its interesting that you say that in the first place you were not just to find of the ability or disability and the things they say they want . And that hit me that i just want my privacy everybody hears a teenager say get out of my room but the ability to have the boyfriend and girlfriend sexually exist in the world and how we look at people with disabilities whether they are physical mental or emotional or otherwise we are quick to almost try to turn them into children and flatten them and make them simplistic and it taught me there is a really rich interior life in a person who wants to be heard and deserves to be heard at the heart of your argument. We shape that very well and some of those issues its equally difficult for disabled people to talk about themselves typically we grow up in families as opposed to a particular race or gender a mother or grandmother or and or uncle i didnt know any disabled people until i started to go to segregated classes at nine years old. Both those other experiences that i could think about and talk about what i was beginning to feel as i got older that children cant why couldnt they have those same expectations . And equally important so as you grow older people say what do you want to be when you grow up . But we did want to be something when we grew up. And the comment that you paid treating people as children that say very powerful because even today it would not be uncommon and people dont talk to me. And for those that were there to assist me. What does she want and that happens all the time and then going back to the earlier question things are very different and very the same. The absence of disability of advertising in journalism continues to marginalize that and that is a very important issue not just a physical disability but depression and anxiety or bipolar diabetes, epilepsy hundreds of disabilities although its improving we still find that people do not want to identify because of the stigma and how they are treated we dont want to hang out with other disabled people but learning about the commonality and the differences. Now you know with the pandemic dealing with africanamericans and latinos dying in higher rates and talk about those underlying conditions which are diabetes, hypertension, obey so people are at greater risk not getting the services that they need or for other reasons but i do hope one of the outcomes of this tragedy is we are able to have more indepth discussions about why its so important this community according to the federal government another 56 Million People and according to the who and royal bank at least 15 percent of the World Population 1 billion people have disabilities so to do a combination of things so me as i was growing up and how i experienced life but also to get people to start thinking more if they have a disability to their people and their families or friends and what type of dialogue do we really need to be having to ensure that disability across communities to learn more about and what we can do to help break down the barriers and look at what discrimination is and watching that. Part of what people know is what is in the culture, talked about, and taught and africanamericans a Civil Rights Movement is what i grew up on and Popular Culture thinking of gay rights, womens movemen movement, even if youre not paying attention you know the basic pinpoints of whats happening and you point out in the book of people you thought would say i had no idea and honestly i had no idea your plate lasted for weeks or months and you say decades so what on why are we not a right aware of the fight around disability the same way of other movements . I know there is the decision not to talk about it as much and for whatever reason people do not put people in the Disability Group for that protected class thinking this is america and the fight over the era i cannot think of the last time i have seen a Major Television disability rights they are the villain are the tragic antihero there never the best person in the movie. Im dating myself this is in the seventies but he doesnt really have a disability so there are positive messages by nondisabled people is a whole other issue so the issues of why not is a combination one is to acquire the disabilities themselves somebody like myself or whomever and i know how they do it. They dont really know what it is what we are doing but they also dont think about themselves and their future and the reason i say that i said i dont use the word able body i use nondisabled because it implies im not able and to tell somebody that i have a disability that something they should understand so the terminology of people maybe its not intentional that the term that we use i think that is an issue i also think as you were discussing not seeing and learning about disabilities in the way people are characterized that also leaves people who have questions afraid of asking them so things have gotten better in the following way to go down the street i use a motorized wheelchair so children are curious that they havent seen one so in some cases they want to ask a question so a child want to ask a question the parents pull the child away and distract them and then they never asked the question. This is not true of everybody some people do not like to be asked but i really dont mind and i really want to engage them plus were on the same high level. [laughter] i am definitely drawn to them because a look at their eyes especially boys. Little girls not so much that the parents that are cool about it where the batteries are where the chair is plugged in and all these others please stop embarrassing me dont ask any more questions. That people have logical questions we are not the majority of people in society like blind or deaf or hard of hearing people need to understand and literally one of the biggest issues people dont see themselves acquiring a disability. But as people get older with their sight and hearing and ability to communicate as they have other memory issues and we tend to look at marginalizing people if you look at whats going on right now with the pandemic some of the highest areas of death acquiring the virus are not even in institution they are in the institution because homes are not accessible they dont want to buy homes that are accessible we dont look at the needs for personal assistance. I cant go the bathroom or do all these things but if i can have someone help me so of people become invested in their future not only my future but in your own what are we preparing for not in a negative way but in a positive way what does one need to do to stay in their community . And be willing to look at more those difficult sessions so you are in charge as long as you can be in charge for other people that you know and respect but ultimately people dont want to think about it. They are afraid and another thing that has stood out your parents told were told put her into an institution and they said absolutely not. But there is a moment where geraldo goes to willowbrook i have never seen anything more upsetting or dehumanizing workers, children covered in their own feces, no time to feed that it was a storehouse that Charles Dickens couldnt even imagine in this was shocking to me. In pennsylvania there was an institution i believe in the philadelphia area which is equivalent to willowbrook one of the things you can see happening now People Living in the nursing homes, some of them are quite large but 30 or 40 or 50 people not only are those programs bad for the individual person but also for the community because they continue to perpetuate people need to be out of sigh sight, out of mind and they are not treated as individuals and to look at this issue of People Living in these facilities people need to live where they were or be able to be in apartments or other places and it should be that congregate living programs after geraldo was given the keys at willowbrook and i went with a nine and a reporter a friend of mine was one of the doctors and when we got there they were not going to let me in. They wanted me to sign a paper that if i got injured i would not sue them. Of course i wouldnt sign a paper like that. It was a horrifying experience and then with the state department i was in mexico and the employees came to visit the institution called Disability Rights International working on issues of Mental Health. Is the first time they found the state department has ever gone and visited and one an institution like this the smell of urine was so overpowering. And people were not playing around naked like in willowbrook but there was no activity going on, and many many People Living there. That people are afraid in this country thats whats going on right now instead of looking at moving people into the community expeditiously. On so many levels of stories that you tell the people should understand that being disabled is exhausting not because of the disability but other people the unnecessary hardship, going through the medical review with a doctor who tries to understand if you are a teacher if youre on a plane and they wont let you on the plane 1 million times over you have that conversation to advocate for afraid something will happen to them arent you afraid something will happen to everybody . Have to prepare yourself for battle every day. If you go back and listen maybe its different but really as a woman its something you really want to go away things have gotten better but just to hop up and hit you in the face and you dont know how to answer it. So sometimes it is okay i will completely come back but in other situations we really need to measure what you say and do you say it to. I think it gets challenging and it makes me angry and sad how much has happened. So i cry a lot and a friend of mine the other day also said the same thing which has nothing to do with a disability but sometimes when shes really angry she cries. When a group of 150 people have taken over because of the said regulations with the discrimination of those disabled people comparable to the portion of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and to be exhausting to congressman came to the building to hold hearings with a representative of the Health Education of welfare under the Carter Administration he sat in the front and he kept shaking his head and there was something about what happened when he was doing that i completely lost it. At the end i said i wish you would shake stop shaking your head like you understand what i am saying because you dont and the audience applauded. I wasnt crying but i had tears but we showed it all over the world people applied all the time and the reason is not because of what i did but its what they want to do the number of times to confront what people are doing or saying to understand or we dont need it and wherever it may be that is what people need to really understand not just about disability but discrimination and overall. Discrimination hurts it can result in death or a non equal treatment and lack of education but we all need to have a better understanding of whats our vision is one of the parts of the but that is important is trying to remember how i fell in these incidences and one of the things that i hear from people around the world is how reading the book is their story and that is very powerful and the comment you are making and those people say we didnt know the story so the question is why . Because people didnt really want to if youre willing to take the time to read the book and watch the movie you get a better understanding but of course reading the book and watching the film will not change the world. Those who are writing books 28 yearold black lesbian was Cerebral Palsy and upstate new york who is funny and smart and other people like that. So to say to local television stations why are we not seeing more the disability . This is an important question. Talk about where we are now it takes three or four president s and then talk about where we are today. Do you thank you are hopeful or fearful to be stripped away . You say things go back and forth do you feel it will swing back to protecting the rights or swinging away . I feel the movement has gotten stronger. None of the situation we were living in had occurred yet. I am very afraid about the Lasting Impact of the pandemic across the board. And what i know our community is fighting for which protects our rights and the rights of others that is an important part of the changes over the years the conference for civil rights which is a Broad National organization including the organization of the International Disability alliance on the International Level an Important Convention coming out of the United States that the persons with disabilities and has been ratified 176 countries so that particular treaty we must fight for and not allow governance to push back against these protections and our community is more at the table than it was in the past so right now we are playing senator caseys office is doing an amazing job fighting for the rights of disabled individuals especially Mental Health disabilities so from my perspective a champion making sure the voice of disabled people are engaged all the time with those weekly telephone calls and those that say i am concerned very much , we do have a better ability to fight those changes that some people may want and i dont think in the fall with the election to make some changes because they are not represented by someone. I was watching camp and they were showing you as a teenage girl with your friends and then what you went on to do with your life you always wonder if there is a moment of all the people in the world and you truly have been that person with disability rights so what was said about judy that made you the person at the forefront of so many of these rights . In their own way they learned about it stepbystep to address what was happening so thats definitely part of it. To the camp experience and others i was born in philadelphia but i grew up in brooklyn and i do talk about if i wasnt born in brooklyn if you can make it any argue can make it anywhere. So i had to Say Something when things were going on i thought were wrong i had to try to do something. I never met a person i didnt want to work with so to me, we each play a different role but that i have other friends who were great writers so when we come together we make a great team and thats why any Movement Goes forward and then to be adversely affected by discrimination with the bond between enough people that only complain about the problem but for me it is recognizing solutions dont happen overnight like with legislation getting it implemented in getting them to understand what is wrong with antisemitism what is wrong with all of these Different Things to me that is a challenge i love working with people who try to make change. Whatever categories we are in we are all beneficiaries of the work you have done its an honor to spend some time even socially distant to spend some time with you and other people can ask questions but for my own behalf thank you for what you have done and i have learned so much going forward. Visit me ends philadelphia someday thank you very much. We appreciate you doing this. It has been a joy. You say that the be careful what you ask for. [laughter] enjoy the rest of the night. We have a ton of questions that have come in and unfortunately we can only get to a handful of them so i will just jump right in here the first question that people want to ask is how do you wrestle with the urge to advocate and change the world or just trying to live your life are the teachable moments . My husband says the same thing all the time. But i am driven and yes sometimes i get frustrated how long it takes to make change i