Disabilities must unite if change is to come.

It appears that most of us made it into the new Millennium unscathed at least so far as the Millennium Bug was concerned. However I'm not sure that the world's disabled have fared as well because it appears that many of us will still be bitten by the same old artificial barriers to employment which we had to face in the past century. These may be the reason why the non-disabled now view us as a population which really doesn't want to work but instead prefers to remain on government aid. This false perception may be why the non-disabled may harbor feelings of resentment towards the disabled. Therefore our first job, in this new century ,is to educate the non-disabled about these barriers so that they don't remain oblivious to them. We have to show them that when they help us remove these barriers they will most likely help us return to work or become employed in some area whereby we could probably leave or reduce the amount of aid which some of us now receive.

Therefore our job in this new century is two fold. We first have to educate and then we have to advocate for the removal of all artificial barriers to employment. An estimated 500,000 of us could advocate in unison for the removal of these barriers. Once removed then the perception that we are nothing more than vagabonds or derelicts who really don't want to become employed could pail into oblivion. An estimated 500,000,000 of us could raise a voice which could be heard around the world in all levels of government from local, to regional to national as well as to international.

This will only remain a dream of mine unless all disabilities unite and realize that a disability is a disability is a disability. Some may be more visible but the end results is the same. The person is still regarded as disabled and therefore most probably incapable of holding down employment. Such a perception may be the results of artificial barriers which prevent employers from viewing the disabled as assets to business. If we are not assets then we must be liabilities who may never become employed. Who knowingly hires someone who is perceives to be a liability to a business?

If we are to become employed then we all must work together to remove this faulty perception. Once removed we most probably would find that employers would hire us because they could now view us as assets to a businesses. Employment means that we most probably will cease being dependent upon governmental assistance. Employment will

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