September 7: Daniel Inouye (b. 1924)

[Image description: A black-and-white portrait of a young Daniel Inouye]
Oftentimes, it takes as much, if not more, courage to speak out and oppose our government’s actions. It should be viewed no less patriotically than those who wave the American flag.

Happy 85th birthday to Senator Daniel Inouye, who has served in the Senate continuously since 1959. Inouye is also one of the several disabled veterans serving in Congress.

He was born to Japanese immigrant parents in Honolulu, and joined the Army in 1943; Japanese-Americans were prevented from enlisting before that year. In April 1945, his right forearm was amputated due to battlefield injuries in Italy. He met future colleague Bob Dole when both were recovering from their war injuries at an army hospital. Inouye abandoned plans for a medical career and used the GI Bill to study political science at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The day Hawaii became a state in 1959, Inouye was sworn in as its first senator.

Chief Justice Roberts, meet Tony Coelho

If Chief Justice Roberts doesn't already know former Congressman Tony Coelho (portrait at right), now would be a good time to get acquainted. Coelho was one of the primary authors of the Americans With Disabilities Act. He's now the chairman of the board at the Epilepsy Foundation. And he's one of the best-known people with epilepsy in public life today.

Coelho's story was frequently told during his time in Congress: he had studied for the priesthood, but a medical exam found that he had epilepsy (he didn't know that before, apparently) and that fact barred him from taking his vows. When the diagnosis was reported to the state, he also lost his driver's license and health insurance, both denials standard at the time. He went to work for a Congressman, and later ran for the same seat and won. He rose to the position of House Majority Whip during his six terms in office.

But what if you have a seizure at the White House? he was asked during his first campaign. His response: "Well, in the 13 years I have served in Washington I knew a lot of people who went to the White House and had fits. At least I’d have an excuse." (My response: The White House probably has soft chairs and couches and a first aid kit handy, so what's the problem?)

There's an anecdote in Anne Fadiman's The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down about Coelho (the Hmong child with epilepsy at the center of the book's story happens to live in Coelho's California district):

Coelho is a popular figure among the Hmong, and a few years ago, some local Hmong men were sufficiently concerned when they learned he suffered from qaug dab peg [the Hmong term for epilepsy] that they volunteered the services of a shaman, a txiv neeb, to perform a ceremony that would retrieve Coelho's errant soul. The Hmong leader to whom they made this proposition politely discouraged them, suspecting that Coelho, who is a Catholic of Portuguese desccent, might not appreciate having chickens, and maybe a pig as well, sacrificed on his behalf. (20-21)

Fadiman goes on to note that epilepsy is considered an especially spiritual condition in Hmong culture, so "what was considered a disqualifying impairment by Coelho's church might have been seen by the Hmong as a sign that he was particularly fit for divine office. Hmong epileptics often become shamans." (21)

[Pedestrian Hostile has good commentary on the coverage of Roberts' seizure.]

February 21: Barbara Jordan (1936-1996)

Through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision, I have finally been included in 'We, the people.'"

When I wrote up some notes on disabled members of Congress in the past, back in the fall, I didn't bring my survey far enough into the 20th century to include Barbara Jordan, born on this date in 1936, in Houston TX. Jordan earned a law degree at Boston University. In 1966, she became the first African-American woman to serve in the Texas Senate. She started her term in Congress in 1973--the same year she learned that she had multiple sclerosis. Important moments in her career included her service on the House Judiciary Committee, where she made a memorable televised speech in favor of Nixon's impeachment (audio and text available here), and her keynote address to the 1976 Democratic Convention. titled "Who, then, will speak for the common good?" (audio and text available here). Jordan left Congress for health reasons in 1979, was a professor at the University of Texas's Johnson School of Public Affairs, and died in 1996, at the age of 59. Before her death, she had lived for many years with her longtime significant other, Nancy Earl.

Today, there's a Barbara Jordan Media Award given annually by the Texas Governor's Committee on People with Disabilities for "accurate and positive" coverage of disability issues in print and broadcast media.

Some historical US Congressmen with disabilities

A commenter on my July post titled An incomplete list of disabled MPs asked about historical US legislators with disabilities. I said I'd look into that. Now we're heading into a midterm election season with at least one disabled Iraq War veteran (Tammy Duckworth in Illinois, pictured at right) running for Congress, and it seems a good time to revisit the question.

We've already discussed General Daniel Sickles (1819-1914) in an earlier blog entry: he lost a leg in the Civil War, and served in Congress afterwards. He wasn't alone. Here's a short list of those I could find in the Dictionary of American National Biography online:

David Bremner Henderson (1840-1906), Scottish born, lost a leg while serving in the Union Army; served in the House of Representatives, 1883-1903, and as Speaker of the House 1899-1903

Matthew Calbraith Butler (1836-1909), lost his leg while serving in the Confederate Army; served in the Senate 1876-1890

Wade Hampton (1818-1902), another Confederate Army general, lost a leg in 1878 in a hunting accident; served in the Senate 1878-1891

Into the twentieth century, Ira Clifton Copley (1864-1947) was blind from an early childhood case of scarlet fever; he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1910, and remained in Congress until 1923. Eugene Millikin (1891-1958) was a WWI veteran with arthritis, who used a wheelchair during some of his years in the Senate from 1941 to 1956). Olin Earl Teague (1910-1981), whose leg was permanently damaged in WWII, served in the House of Representatives 1946-1978; before Teague retired from Congress, his foot was amputated as part of his continuing treatment from war wounds. John Bell Williams (1918-1983), lost an arm and part of a leg in WWII, and served in the House of Representatives from 1946-1967 (and was later an anti-civil-rights Governor of Mississippi).

There are surely more. A number of WWII, Korea, and Vietnam-era disabled veterans in Congress are still alive, so they're not listed in the Dictionary of American National Biography --yet.

UPDATE 12-15-07: Just found another blind Congressman: Thomas D. Schall (1878-1935); he was a Minnesota lawyer when he lost his vision in an 1907 electrical accident; he served in the House of Representatives from 1915-1925, then in the Senate from 1925 until his death in 1935.

Capitol protest

About five hundred disability-rights protesters from across the US visited the Capitol on Monday, organized by ADAPT; over a hundred of them were arrested for refusing to leave private offices, and some spent the night in jail. They targeted members of Congress who had not signed as co-sponsors of MiCASSA and other legislative efforts to combat the institutional bias in long-term care services. The story was widely if briefly reported in local television stations across the US (so there must be footage), and carried, again briefly, to newspapers by the AP (here's a shortlived link to that account, so read it quick). ADAPT's got a longer version, of course, with photos, here, and in this press release.