User talk:DuyenDiep/sandbox

I would like to include this in my Laura Hershey edit (needs to be paraphrased):


 * From The Denver Post
 * == “She was an intelligent, funny, active writer, activist and mother,” Hershey’s partner, Robin Stephens, said Saturday.

“She was a genius who lived with disability and lived well.”

Hershey was a prolific writer — in books of poems, magazines and online at a number of websites — and much of her works focus on the struggle to maintain personal dignity in a world inclined to see the disabled as pitiable or useless. One of her most famous works is a poem called “You Get Proud By Practicing.”

To the broader public, Hershey was perhaps best known for protesting Jerry Lewis’s muscular dystrophy telethons. Once a poster child for those campaigns, Hershey grew to believe the telethons create the impression that people with muscular dystrophy have lives that are not worth living.

She was cited for trespassing in 2001 during a protest outside the telethon’s local telecast.

Her writings were an inspiration to many, John Hershey said, and she has a book of poems called Spark Before Dark that she finished shortly before her death that is scheduled to be published by Finishing Line Press.

But, in a passage that exemplifies her work, she also cautions the disabled against being forced to feel grateful for necessities.

“We have to demand the things that are essential to our lives, equality, and quality of life,” she wrote. “We must refuse to feel gratitude for these, except the normal level of gratitude that anyone might feel for living in a time and place that still supports human life.” ==

== In addition to writing, Hershey offers workshops, speeches, readings, and other presentations for a wide range of professional and community organizations. Recent appearances include a workshop session on queer disabled bodies at the 2009 Creating Change conference, a keynote address and poetry reading at the annual meeting of the Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD), and facilitation of a two-day meeting between labor and disability activists.

Hershey is nationally recognized for her activism and advocacy on a wide range of disability rights and social justice issues. She serves on several committees related to health care policy, advises progressive organizations on disability community outreach, and engages in ongoing grassroots activism with groups such as ADAPT, Not Dead Yet, and the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition. Hershey has also led or participated in campaigns to remove Social Security work disincentives, to challenge the negative images of the Jerry Lewis Telethon, to increase visibility of LGBTQ people with disabilities, to improve Medicaid home and community-based services, to promote the rights of home care workers, and more. In recognition of her activism, Hershey received the 1998 President’s Award from the President’s on Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities.==