European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 25, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Dan Elf pulp Lold breaking Down the barriers Ted Kennedyjr. Fights for disability rights by Ken franckling United press International Reading Down the architectural and emotional barriers thai isolate disabled people is the civil rights Issue of the 80s. Says Ted Kenned or. He also believes Public service not politics is the heritage of America s most famous family name. This Kennedy one of the third generation cousins group that also includes politicians Joseph Kennedy Iii and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend matter of lastly compares disability rights to the civil rights marches of the 70s this movement Isabul parents trying 10 gel their son or daughter into a Normal school system a Guy trying to get Access to a Public Library so he can Check out a Book it s that kind of  said Kennedy in his cramped office overlooking downtown Boston s Public gardens the attitudinal barriers Are the most stubborn  he said. In some respects they Are More serious than racism and sexism because we re no As conscious of How we maintain them. They Are a Little bit harder to break Down. Ii is hard not to feel sorry for someone who is Blind Lor  an athletic 6-footer Wilh thick curly Blond hair. Teddy or. Is Broad shouldered like his senatorial father and he is vibrant proof thai a disability need not cripple one s spirit or effectiveness. Kennedy now 25. Was 12 when doctors found a cancerous tumor in his right leg in november 1973. The leg was amputated As the surest Way of preventing a recurrence of his cartilage cancer. Witten i lost my Teg t thought it was the end of the world. I could t imagine living the rest of my life with one leg. I had these bams kinds of attitudes As  it took 18 months or Kennedy to resume an Active life after his diagnosis surgery and chemotherapy. Today he is an avid athlete who laves both sailing and skiing. He is a medal winning number of the . Handicapped ski team. Tea byte of boy who overcame cancer and i Sabuty with the help of Hla family his friends and his la i in god. Has been made into a to movie the Ted Kennedy i  it is a movie about family net just the Kennedy. It chronicles How a family copes with his disability his Mother s alcoholism his Parent s marital discord. Page 16 the stars and stripes " people can relate to what happens to their children. What family in America is not touched by a drinking or substance abuse problem in some Way Kennedy says. He worked with the film s writers and even wrote and delivered a 90-second epilogue about How the experience sensitized him to the Issue he considers so Paramount today. I was not thai crazy about the movie in the first place he said. I thought it was an invasion of privacy and brought up some things that were painful quite frankly. But it will serve a purpose. It raises the whole fact that cancer does not mean death. And it will give inspiration to people who do not think they have it in them to go  Kennedy s role As a spokesman for he disabled began when he addressed the 1964 democratic National convention in san Francisco on the Issue. Last year he founded facing the Challenge his non profit advocacy organization. He also signed on As consultant to a Massachusetts group promoting employment of the disabled. Kennedy prefers the term physically challenged Over handicapped of  those words stress inability. The language we use is very indicative of the Way we think he says. Everything in life can be looked at As either a Challenge or a  still he ends up using the word disabled As a convenient verbal shorthand. At facing Tow Challenge the director s desk has the slight clutter that comes from being Busy. On one Wall hangs a photograph of his Mother Joan relaxing at the piano. A people Magazine cover documents the trip Kennedy and his sister a a made Wilh their lather sen. Edward m. Kennedy. D-mass., to Ethiopia at the height of he african Lamina. As he moves about the two room office his Bunp is barely noticeable. My disability is very alight in comparison Wilh most people Wilh whom i work Kennedy says. No matter what disability it is amputation paraplegia epilepsy or menial retardation i i Hank there Ore some common threads what binds people together to this misconception of pity the fear  that people have and display when they come in Contact with somebody with a disability. Disabilities frighten Many people. It la a Tittle More difficult to break these Down but is is changing Kennedy said. With the Legi Dalton that came out of the 70s and these architectural barriers slowly being tuesday november 25,1966 eliminated disabled people Are becoming More visible in our society. As they become More visible others will team to look at people s abilities and not just limitations. In a family where the men have been pulled toward politics As a congressmen senators presidents and would be presidents Teddy or. Does t Rule out a political future. For now. His activism runs along the lines of iwo aunts. Eunice Kennedy Shriver started the special olympics in the Early 1960s, which now is the fas Lesl growing sports program in the world. About 10 years ago Jean Kennedy Smith started very special arts a program designed to bring creative arts into the lives of people with disabilities. I Don t really believe in that Torch-passing1 Skull that Here is a special Kennedy responsibility. We Are All kind of taught to be involved in things said Teddy or. I m very proud of my family heritage. It makes you have to try a Little harder because people Are always expecting a lot out of you. There Are some expectations. I m a competitive person but not with other people. I m competitive with myself. I try not to let other people s ideas dictate what t  Kennedy fidgets with a tape dispenser on his desk i prefer to draw attention to a certain Issue of the time not to sit Down and do interviews " he explains. He also recognizes the Kennedy name is an advantage that he would Lack were he Joe Smith activist amputee. I know i m Able to command an audience easier or to get in when i want to talk to a company about changing its personnel practices or corporate policy but listen if that s what it takes you May As Well use your ability to do that. But you Don i have to be disabled or physically challenged to be concerned about these issues. Just because i m not poor does l mean i Don t care about poverty. Just because i m not a Fisherman does t mean that i m not concerned about the pollution in our  he flies across the country regularly encouraging people to work on the local level for change in social policies that affect the disabled and to encourage the disabled to become activists on their own behalf. The issues mainly Are Access Equality issues equal Access to education transportation and employment Kennedy says. These Are issues thai Able bodied people take Lor granted. Whether it s having dinner in a restaurant or going to a movie. Ii is those simple kinds of things. Nobody aver thinks about the fact thai somebody with different mobility and visual and hearing impairments just does t have those same kind of opportunities. Until you or a family member or Friend come into Contact with this you just Don t think about ii. I try to Frame in in terms that we live in a society where people Are getting older. Because of modern Medicine people Are living much longer Wilh mobility and visual and hearing impairments. How Are we going to Adust to the fact that by the year 2000,25 percent of our population will be elderly these issues will eventually affect All of us in our  As the to docudrama draws new attention to his crusade. Kennedy is off Ona new round of visits to major cities where a will try to encourage More activism. Laws alone Are not going to solve these problems. People on a local level must gel together and learn what their rights Are band together As a group and politicize themselves. We Are trying to make it an inclusion Ary Effort Kennedy said in another 20 years Well look Back at this Point and say How could our social policy have been this Way for so Long people must recognize disability to be Normal and not abnormal there Are 36 million disabled people in our country. The chances Are thai everyone win incur a disability. We Are All one step away irom being challenged. These Are just the visible disabilities. Majority of us abilities Are invisible everything from asthma to substance abuse to epo Epsy not to eve mention learning Glaab Ihlia. We rave to say us Len this is not abnormal this happens in our seckary it happens every Day to a much greater extent than people Reata we All have limitations of some