Global Work and Access Living

At Access Living, global solidarity matters.
 

Having worked at Access Living for more than a decade, I know that we have a tradition of welcoming international visitors with and without disabilities.  Since Access Living was founded in 1980, hundreds of people from around the world have come to meet our community and view our offices. People come to share ideas, learn about what we do, and most of all connect with disability advocates who fight for the disability movement every day in one of the biggest cities in the United States. Access Living is led by and for people with disabilities, and given that over 60% of our staff identify as having a disability, we are the models for the lives we want to live.

 

We have also been involved in global disability rights advocacy. Access Living’s President and CEO, Marca Bristo, has been extremely involved in international disability issues for many years, and was one of the leaders to fight for the U.S. Senate to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD).  Sadly, the U.S. has still not ratified the treaty, for reasons that have less to do with disability rights than for political issues in other arenas.

 

Many of our staff have participated in international exchange trips, most recently to Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Kazakhstan, and others. Some have participated in one-way trips to, for example, Taiwan and Japan.  Professor and writer James Charlton wrote the book Nothing About Us Without Us on international disability rights, while serving as Access Living’s executive vice president.  In 2008, thanks to the generosity of the Chicago Foundation for Women, I visited Australia, New Zealand and South Korea to discuss the situation facing women with disabilities.

 

So the question at the beginning of the travel is this: where are you going? Where, and what, is Bulgaria? And where and what is Hungary? Many, if not most, residents of the U.S. could not name the capitals of either countries, much less describe the political and economic system, or their histories of the last 50 years. Far fewer could tell you the situation of people with disabilities in either country. And yet there are certainly thousands of Bulgarians and Hungarians who have made their way to the U.S. to live. There are thriving communities from both countries in Chicago, with churches and grocery stores.

 

For readers following along who are not familiar with Bulgaria or Hungary, try reading the Wikipedia page in English for each (see here for Bulgaria and here for Hungary). Both countries are far older than the U.S., with fascinating histories and cultures. The borders of both countries have shifted greatly over time.  Who is Hungarian? Who is Bulgarian? These are essential questions, as is: who is American? Who and what is a human being?

 

To learn and live: this is what Access Living does every day, and some days we are lucky to do it with our global brothers and sisters.