Dear Friends of ILRCSF,

2011 will surely go down in history as the year the 99% woke up and began to "Occupy" public spaces, demanding an end to oppressive conditions. But for us in the Disability Rights community, this is not an entirely new idea. After all, in April of 1977, the San Francisco Federal Building became the site of what would become the longest occupation of a Federal Building in US history. For 45 days, people with disabilities demanded enforcement of the first major law to bar discrimination against the disabled - Section 504 - and we won. We did that. Yes, the Independent Living movement knows a little something about occupation.  

As the late, great father of Independent Living, Ed Roberts, once said, "Most psychiatrists and service professionals who work with us tell us that anger is a bad thing...a stage to get over or something that we need to overcome. But anger is a powerful energy. We don't need to suppress or get over our anger, we need to channel it into making change for the greater good." His words could not be more timely. In a year that has us facing deep cuts to social spending, we know that this means that people in our community have their very lives at stake while the gap between the rich and the poor widens daily. There is, indeed, much cause for anger.

In 2011, ILRCSF worked to channel that anger in several ways. First, following the retirement of our previous Executive Director, Herb Levine - himself a participant in the 504 sit-in - we launched The Herb Levine Legacy Fund, a donor-driven program which makes small grants to grassroots projects that focus on disability rights, consumer empowerment, accessibility, and Independent Living at the local level. Next, we continued our work to ensure the FAIR Education Act, which guarantees the history of people with disabilities and the disability rights movement are included in the public school curriculum, is not overturned, and that the Act is successfully implemented.  Additionally, we are part of a coalition promoting the Longmore Amendment, named for another luminary of the disability rights movement whom we lost this year, the beloved Bay Area historian and scholar, Paul Longmore. It will enable people with disabilities to accept academic scholarships and fellowships without fear of losing their health benefits, a fight Paul began and one we intend to finish. And finally, in partnership with other agencies and labor unions, we organized several rallies and protests to the proposed cuts in services for people with disabilities, both strengthening the ties between ourselves and other marginalized communities, and asserting that people with disabilities are a part of the 99%.

As we approach 2012, I am heartened by seeing my brothers and sisters with disabilities out in the streets, right alongside the rest of the world, paving the way for a better future. It is an exciting time to be alive and independent. We at ILRCSF thank you for all you do and we hope that you will continue to support our work by making as generous a year-end gift as you are able. Do it because we are not finished yet - do it because, as Ed said, we must once and for all, "Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down."  

In solidarity,

Jessie Lorenz

Executive Director

ILRCSF