Yes! Those With Disabilities Are People Too! Poem by Luke Easter

At a Saturday prayer breakfast a couple weeks back,
On Noble Road in Cleveland Heights is where it was at,
A traditional speaker, offering, then we were on our feet,
Headed to the chow line, oh yeah, now it’s time to eat.

Must admit at first I was more than just a little bit dismayed,
Although not required there was one guest, who did not pay,
When the basket was passed in front of him nothing came,
Then after the presentation out came his red and white cane.

Well, no wonder he didn’t acknowledge it when passed around,
And moving down the isle 6 people almost knocked him down,
Startled was I because of the apparent rudeness and disrespect,
We see that on the street but in a place of worship such neglect?

The House of our Lord and he was almost run over by sightful legs,
Because several knuckleheads wanted to be first for bacon & eggs,
So, I wondered what might have happened in a store or at the mall,
How many would’ve gone out of their way to pick him up from a fall.

It is the year of our Lord 2010 and we live in very perilous times,
On the phone Bill Grant reminded me of how many are so unkind,
His son Phillip has Cerebral Palsy and is confined to a wheelchair,
Yeah William, I hate to say you’re right but people really don’t care

Encountering those less fortunate cruel things do you think & say?
Should they need help do you walk toward or run the other way?
“I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet, ”
This quote must be foremost in our minds for everyone we meet.

It took a lot of pressure & perseverance but twenty years ago today,
Then President George H. Bush on 07/26/90 signed into law the ADA,
A bill that finally made discrimination against disabilities an illegal act,
For jobs, transportation, restaurants and housing, a long overdue fact.

There was actually a start-up movement five years before, okay where?
Several wheelchairs blocked bus routes, Cleveland, Ohio Public Square,
The police were taking them to jail and the reason they didn’t get there?
There’s no access to the paddy wagons or at the jail for their wheelchairs.

Here's a story of a guy born with no arms and no legs yet all the while,
No matter where you see him or what he's doing there's always a smile,
Born in 1982 and yet by 19 he had not one but a double bachelor degree,
Nick Vujicic deserves the utmost respect he’s not seeking our sympathy.

The same respect we get upset about not receiving when we think it’s due,
So angry, bitter, jealous & envious, while with arms and legs we have two,
Not once in a while but every sun filled, rain soaked or snow storming day,
Observing any disability we should more than happy to go out of our way.

As for those who are less-sensitive and uncaring it is where you’ll find,
An abundance of society who are afflicted with a disability of the mind,
However, although it doesn’t stop them from physically getting around,
They’re severely disabled from making judgments that are morally sound.

No, not everyone yet it seems there are less for them and more against,
Physically challenged their lives are backed up against society’s fence,
The world needs to rejuvenate its negative thinking with a positive view,
What would Father say? Yes! Those With Disabilities Are People Too!