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Although Senator Kerry and his wife cancelled their Rochester visit, at least a dozen CDR members attended Senator Edwards’ Campaign Rally in Rochester on Sunday, February 22nd, at 7:30 PM. I say “at least” because the place was so packed that several members have reported to me that they were there, but could not get in, or could not find our group… so there might have been more of us! Shelly, Debbie and myself arrived early and were able to get pretty good positions on the floor near the podium. Marlene, Bruce, Jose, Lisa and Norita arrived soon after and had to struggle to get through the crowds. Sadie and U-Wen arrived later and were not able to get into the room where Edwards was speaking. Before the event, we struggled to find out if there would be a sign language interpreter for our Deaf members. Several staff reported that they did not know then we finally found one staff that knew the answer. No. We asked them to honestly address the issue by having Senator Edwards apologize for this oversight. Edwards’ staff denied this request and instead offered a private photo and brief conversation with the Senator for the Deaf people at the rally. Our people turned down that offer, because the conversation would do them no good since there was no interpreter! When Senator Edwards entered, he made a quick round to do handshakes. As he came near, I shouted for him to help us pass MiCASSA! When he made it to Shelly and Debbie, he had the gall to actually pat them on the head! We were surprised that any politician (this side of Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno) would still do such a thing. Edwards gave the same basic speech that he gives in every one of his appearances. He spoke about UNITE, the union that had arranged the event, and then continued his normal routine. The one notable exception was that he did call attention to a group of college students in the audience who were advocating for HIV/AIDS issues. When I spoke with one of the students after the event, he pointed out that they had been at SIX of Edwards’ appearances and this was the first time that Edwards addressed their issue. Persistence pays off! When he finished, Edwards signed posters on his way out. We were able to get him to sign two “Our Homes NOT Nursing homes” and one ADAPT logo. Also, when he was nearby signing the posters we shouted for him to help pass MiCASSA. After everyone filtered out, we went downstairs to try to find anyone from our group we were missing in the mayhem. Downstairs, there was a small line of people waiting for Senator Edwards to emerge to go to his bus. We joined the line and waited a minute and there he was! As he did another round of handshakes on his way out, Bruce and I were each able to snag his attention for a few moments to explain that we need to end the institutional bias and have hearings on MiCASSA. The encounter was brief, but worthwhile. We got his attention to our issues at least for a moment, and if other advocates follow-up and do the same, we can get disability rights into the national discussion. We talked with his local campaign staff for a few minutes to explain why our people were disappointed. The staff actually understood and said they would bring it up on the conference call the following day. Thank you to everyone who battled the crowds to join us at the event! Chris Hilderbrant Director of Advocacy Center for Disability Rights |