Let's Get Back to Being America.....

Author: Debra A. Buell Copyright 2013

When something is wrong, it only takes one person that really cares...to make change happen.

That's what happened to me over 10 years ago when the first Veteran approached me for help with a problem. He needed a ride to the VA Medical Center in Albany, NY. He couldn't ride on the DAV van and, at the time, I thought this was a "local" problem.

I had already spent years advocating for people with disabilities and knew very well what the shortfalls were. I knew there were train stations, subways, airlines, bus companies and chartered trip companies that all DID NOT have access for people in wheelchairs. I knew it because I am a person in a wheelchair and because I care about anyone who can't get what they need. BUT, I do have a special place in my heart for people with disabilities.

I think the general public thinks that "everything is taken care of" , that the laws that exist are making sure that we, the people with disabilities, have a fair chance at equal participation in society. We do have good laws. We DO NOT have good compliance with the laws. And, there is no "Disability Sheriff" in "town ready to ride out and enforce those laws on our behalf. We actually have to make complaints at the Federal Level or bring private lawsuits to get the protections we are supposedly already guaranteed to have in the law. We DO NOT have anything like a "good chance" at equal participation in society. We take what we can get... often after years of meetings, negotiations and excuses...even though Federal Law says it should be otherwise.

In most of the US laws that affect any "minority" (there are 54 million people in the US with disabilities, 1 billion in the world), there is good language, good rhetoric. Rhetoric will get you nowhere when the only way to access your voting place is up a set of stairs and you're in a wheelchair. If you're deaf and want to talk to your doctor, you can almost guarantee...in much of America, that your doctor will not be able to sign or have a sign language interpreter available at the time of your visit. If you're blind and want to go for a walk, you'll be taking your life in your hands at most intersections... if you're walking with your cane and no assistance/service dog. Most crosswalks do not have audible signals and you'll have to hope you can "sense" rightly the movement of other people around you and cross when they do and then, also...hope that they are crossing safely.

It's a dream world that most people unaffected by a "difference" live in. Many people think they are "slighted" or unequal simply because they are not in the 1% economically. There are many things to be grateful for and among them should be your ability to see, to hear, to walk, to speak, to move...

Among the disabled, I see....everyday, people who do extraordinary things without a whiff of a complaint about how hard it can be to do anything in a world where you confront exclusion and misconceptions every day. I haven't always been disabled. When my collection of afflictions and a drunk driver finally conspired to collectively cause me to need a wheelchair for mobility, people almost immediately began to see and treat me differently...even people that knew me well.

That was a shock that still ripples into my everyday existence these days.... a never ending ripple of being seen as helpless, needy or, somehow.....less intelligent.

But, back to the Veterans. I began to meet many Veterans in my area and came to understand that the need for Transportation was far bigger than one man. It's not the only thing that caused me to start doing research to learn more about the issue, but, it is the most important thing. And, if you're curious, I have never been paid by anyone for the advocacy or research I do. I do it because it needs to be done.

When I discovered, after thousands of hours of research that there was national policy that directly states: "ambulatory only/no wheelchairs", I felt, not only, deeply HURT, but shocked by finding out that this policy was written and supported by the Veterans Administration and by the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), a National Veterans Service Organization.

I am trying to recover from shocks every day in my research. Could it be about money?

No, I have found that the amounts of money given anonymously to JUST the VAVS (Veterans Administration Voluntary Services) last year would have purchased a ramp for every one of the 11,897 vans operated in the DAV National Transportation Program.

Anonymous donations last year (2012) were $11,750,000 . That's right, over 11 million dollars. How many donations altogether? I'll be publishing that on slideshare on Monday, 10/7/2013. It's publicly available information, but, putting all of it together has taken months. Putting the whole story together will take years.

Solving the problem doesn't have to take years. A small group of dedicated organizations and people are working together to get Congress, the Veterans Administration and the DAV (Disabled American Veterans) to eradicate the written, discriminatory policy. At the same time, we are working everywhere we can to get local DAV Chapters to understand that this policy is not legal

and then, hope they will choose to put ramps in their own vans and not leave any soldiers behind. We could use your help, in your home town, County or State with this. We need YOUR help...if we're going to make this happen without the wasted time and money that a lawsuit takes.

We need:

1) Signers on our change.org petition:

Enter: www.change.org ....into your browser address bar

When you get to Change.org, enter: "Soldiers Left Behind..." in the search bar, you will see our petition come up in the search results. Please enter the requested information if you support this cause.

2) We also need people to download the National Petition available here on slideshare. Once you've downloaded it, you can print it out and get signatures on it from people in your community. Talk to people about this. Let them know it is happening to Veterans everywhere in the nation...not just in rural areas. The address to mail in your completed petitions is on the bottom of the petition page.

3) We need people in EVERY STATE to stand up for this cause in public ways. We could use your help getting information to the Press in your local community, getting out to just tell people about what's happening and asking them to sign a petition or call or write their Congressional Representatives.

If you or your organization want to be part of the group that is now working hard on this, you'll find out how to join with us at the bottom of the page.

We need partners from BOTH Military and Civilian communities in every state in the nation. Please consider joining us.

Basically, what I am asking you, America, is to be the "Citizen Congress". Our Elected Congresses, over many decades...passed Civil Rights (Title VI) laws, The Americans with Disabilities Act, The Olmstead Act and others that apply to this situation. All of them are Federal Laws that have been tested many times over in the Courts and upheld.

We can't make exceptions for either the Veterans Administration or a national Veterans Service Organization like the DAV (Disabled American Veterans).

If we, by our silence, let this pass...we are saying one more time, go ahead.........BREAK OUR LAWS.

Haven't we been letting that happen enough, lately?

Putting ramps in Vans for Veterans isn't a divisive issue.

Veterans represent every Political Party, Race, Religious belief, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Ethnic Background AND AGE GROUP.

This is affecting young veterans whose legs have been blown off in the Iraq and Afghanistan Conflicts. AND, it is affecting older veterans from as far back as World War II all the through the Korean War, Vietnam War and conflicts along the spectrum of our history for 70 years.

This Discriminatory Policy has been actively practiced for a QUARTER OF A CENTURY. I think our Veterans have waited long enough....and some of them have died waiting due to lack of proper medical care or suicides related to the frustration around this and other Veterans issues.

No matter what you believe about the US Military or our Government's policies, this is an issue that affects the social contract that we make with all Soldiers when they were enlisted or drafted into service.

As a nation, we agreed to take care of them when they came home. Frankly, there are many ways that they have been let down in terms of their care. Let's try to help them one step at a time. Please help us whatever way you can or join us at the national level to make this happen. All you have to do is start with one email. We will call or write back to everyone who reaches out to us. Please be patient because, right now, we are only 4 organizations, one diligent researcher (yours truly) and a few dozen individuals strong.

You can write to:

Debra Buell at: RealWorldasDisabled@gmail.com (@DebraWarrior4Ju), #VeteransRights, #RampsAreNotRocketScience

Robert Poulin (Executive Director, North Country Center for Independence, Plattsburgh, NY) at: robert@ncci-online.com

Kelly Buckland (Executive Director, National Council on Independent Living, Washington, DC) at: Kelly@ncil.org

Follow our new Twitter Hub: @ReadyTroops. You will see updates everyday on Twitter and be able to be in touch with us there through my handle (DebraWarrior4Justice: @DebraWarrior4Ju) or through the Hub: @ReadyTroops.

Let's get back to being America.

Let's get together and work for the Law, the truth and as the good people that we already know we are in this nation.

Thank you!