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The Questions:
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LIFE
INSURANCE?
Roth IRA?
Disability?
The Answers: FLOREID WALKER
Eugene lesbian reflects
on years of disability
activism
WADDELL
<SrR EED
Financial Services
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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
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