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As some of you may know from other articles, I have been appointed to the Florida Americans with Disability Act Working Group (ADA Working Group). This honor was given through an appointment from Governor Jeb Bush. It is a non-pay position, and the groups mandate is to educate and facilitate the Federal ADA standards into the state of Florida. Although this seems to be a simple job, it is not as easy as it sounds. Do you remember civil rights? It took from President Lincoln to President Clinton and beyond to establish each and every edict of the law. I must be simple minded, I really thought things would roll right along and the rules would be followed. Wow, what a mistake.

I am a hurried person. I do things quickly and do not understand why everyone will not just do his job. There are those who read the law and render it in a mind set that I may not see. Then it goes to through the court systems and that takes years. So, we still have some holes in the system. I am also a person that sees everything in black and white, right or wrong. There are no shades of gray in my perspective. Maybe that is why we have to go to court to get someone to do what the law has already said to do........ What has this country come to? Is not the law enough for everyone? I can not answer these questions except to say no.

I see persons everyday using disabled parking permits and you just know it is for their parent. Did you here of the scandal at UCLA. The football players had a scam going and had disabled parking permits. Rumor has it that no real punishment was brought against the persons involved. I received a nice reply to my inquiry as to the action taken and was told it was none of my business. Now I really do not agree with that. It is my business. I have a disabled parking permit and there is times I can not use it because of the able bodied persons taking the blue lined spaces. Their reasoning says they will only be in there a minute, what is the problem......

Well back to the real story.... The ADA Working Group in this lovely State has a very hard and difficult job. It is no wonder the wheels of justice move so slow. I have been accused of pouring water on the fire of the disabled. However, I have learned one thing in my almost 50 years on this earth, you can get more with honey than with salt. Dr. M.L. King knew that, remember him? When did he ever use salt? Oh there are those who call him radical. But, according to our constitution, all men are created equal. Dr. King just wanted what was right under the law. There were others who followed Dr. King that were radical and wanted real confrontation. That was not his way. Nor is it mine. If I can win a battle with the powers to be and keep everyone from fighting, I think the job is well done. Sometimes the courts and the enforcement agencies must step in to quell the hostile advocates, and there is no other way to deal with some situations. However, with give and take on both sides a compromise can usually be worked out. Most situations do not get messed up over night and we as the disabled should not expect all of our separate causes to be fixed in the blink of the eye. Even with the blessing of the powers to be, law enforcement and judicial authority, sometime it just takes time for all things to drop into place. I have several things I am working on and through study of the situations, I have found the situation has taken several years to progress to the point of infringement. I wish I could wave a magic wand over the problem and click my heels two times and make all the bad go away, That is not realistic. Victories have come and more are on the way. Most of the time, little things are not addressed until they get past the point of being little, then they are no longer a small issue, but have become a larger problem. This takes time to figure out and to implement a solution.

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