Monday, March 15, 2010

March 15: Sue Boyce (b. 1951)

[Visual description: family portrait of Australian senator Sue Boyce, who is shown with her three adult children, two women and a man; one of the daughters has Down Syndrome. All are smiling and embracing each other.]

"Anytime we allow people with a disability to be treated as special people who should live or learn or work or spend their leisure time in special places, we are shutting people with a disability out of the mainstream."

Happy birthday to Australian senator from Queensland, Sue Boyce, who has made disability rights issues a priority of her legislative work. She's currently serving on the committee to consider Australian immigration laws on the subject of disability. She is also a past president of the Down Syndrome Association of Queensland. Last week, she called a controversial decision of the Family Court in Brisbane concerning the sterilization of an 11-year-old disabled girl "appalling....completely discriminatory and inhumane."

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