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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (April 18, 2003)
aprii ia. 2003 » rTÎTîTTTFTnTïneius The Questions: ROLLOVER? O n C f » ? < J L ,f • 401 k? R fr if? 401 CMP LIFE INSURANCE? Roth IRA? Disability? The Answers: FLOREID WALKER Eugene lesbian reflects on years of disability activism WADDELL <SrR EED Financial Services •UMNtS. UWKI' Investing. With a plan.’ by Su san D etro y For a personal fin a n cia l f plan, ca ll ’ve always had a keen awareness of injustice and wanted to he a champion for equality,” Susie Grimes says. “1 grew up in a racially tense envi ronment. 1 was a lesbian in high school in the Midwest in the early ’70s. It was not an open or tolerant environm ent.” T h e Eugene woman c h a n neled this co m m itm en t to ju s tice into years o f activism w ith in th e disability rights m ove m ent, advocating for equality and in clu sio n regardless o f physical c o n d itio n . H avin g recently com pleted her tenure Susie Grim es has traveled around the world to empower at an intern ational nonprofit, people with disabilities she took Ju st O u t down her long road to recovery and reh abilitatio n . countries because of inadequate health care, nutrition, immunization and rehabilitation. rimes grew up near Dayton, Ohio, and In 1998 Grimes participated in a wheelchair moved to Oregon in 1973, attracted to the basketball tour to Bosnia organized to create state’s natural beauty and Eugene’s relaxed awareness of land mines and disability issues. atmosphere. She initially worked as a gas station She also has led exchange groups to Mexico, attendant, an office manager at a women’s auto Germany and Costa Rica. repair collective and, in 1976, a founder of Full “Susie has a passion and commitment to excel Mtxin Rising, a forestry workers cooperative for lence in all she dix.-s,” says Susan Sygall, MIUSA women. executive director and co-founder. “She is deeply In 1978 at the age of 23, she permanently committed to advancing the human rights of peo injured her hack and lower extremities after ple with disabilities.” falling from a 70-f(xit tree and landing on her feet. She was flown by Coast Guard helicopter rimes talks about disability activism as a from the accident site near the Rogue River to human rights issue. “I was not an activist Eugene, where her surgery began 12 hours until I really understtxxJ the unjust treatment dis later. abled people were experiencing. I wanted to be Grimes broke her hack in two places and part of a movement working on reversing the shattered both ankles. She was paralyzed from trend of exclusion and discrimination.” the waist down. She believes the activists play an important “It t(X)k me two years to realize my injuries role in raising awareness about legal protection were going to be permanent, because I had against discrimination and working to achieve experienced many accidents and broken hones laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act. that I fully recovered from,” she says. “Recovery “We talk about inclusion as a principal con became a lifelong process.” cept— the need for people with disabilities to be a part of society, not kept outside and on the Grimes emerged an activist and athlete, fringes— and that the problem is not about the excelling in wheelchair basketball, rugby and disability but society’s attitudinal barriers,” she soccer. For 15 years she coached and played with “amazingly strong people: paraplegics, quadri says. “This is all true for the gay rights move ment, to o .... Gay culture faces a challenge in plegics, blind people, deaf people, amputees, grappling with the concept of inclusion. We developmentally disabled people...people who want to be included as part of our society, in use power wheelchairs.” She served as chairwoman of the National terms of legal rights, to be protected against dis Wheelchair Basketball Association women’s crimination, to have marriages, adopt children, serve in the military, but we are still terribly division and assistant coach of the 1996 Para hated and discriminated against.” lympics women’s wheelchair basketball team, which tix)k home a bronze medal. "Sports.. .gave W hile she decides what to do next in her life, Grimes will continue operating her horse farm me confidence and allowed my warrior nature to on the outskirts of Eugene. “Nature is a very thrive, in a healthy way,” she says. important part of my life. I have been learning In 1994 Grimes began working with Mobili ty International U SA , a nonprofit that encour- about horse training techniques that teach you ages relief organizations to include more people how to communicate with the horse as the hors- with disabilities in microenterprise, disaster es do with each other. It’s about building part- relief, refugee, health education and literacy nerships and becoming part of the herd." JH programs. The idea is that the development projects need to be serving everyone in those For more information about MOBILITY communities, especially people with disabilities, I nternational U SA visit the Internet site who represent about 20 percent of the popula www.miusa.org. tion. An estimated 80 percent of the world’s S usan D etroy is a Eugene free-lance u/mer. population of disabled people live in developing a Roth Long Tirm Care? C o lle g e ? M oving IRA? 13 t FLOREID WA LKER Senior Financial A dvisor 5 0 3 . 2 3 8 . 6 0 3 6 e x t 109 W A DDELL & REED Memb" SIPC 5 0 0 N .E . M u ltn o m a h , S u ite 2 7 8 , P o rtla n d , O R 9 7 2 3 2 www.waddeU.com em ail floreidw alker® w radv ison com i-------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ ------------- ------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - — D O M E S T IC A ilia K i& U ltS l/ Mention this ad and get a 10% discount. “S A M E DAY S E R V IC E ON M O S T R EP AIR S” Repairs of A ll Makes & Models Am erican • European • Im ports Cars • Truck s • RVs ; W e Fix It Right the First Tim e From Oil Changes to Overhaul, Fred's Auto Works Does It All Close to Downtown • Free Local Rides All Makes & Models I "Fred's Auto Works... 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