Lynn honors disabled through flag-raising ceremony

LYNN – Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy joined advocates for the Americans with Disabilities Act on Tuesday for a flag-raising ceremony at City Hall Square to recognize the 21st anniversary of the act?s establishment.Kennedy read from a document proclaiming that July 26 become known as “Americans with Disabilities Day,” to “celebrate the contributions people with disabilities have made and continue to make.” Kennedy also announced the first meeting of the City of Lynn?s Disabilities Commission to be held Tuesday, Aug. 8.At a reception following the event, Mary Margaret Moore, Executive Director for the Independent Living Center of the North Shore and Cape Ann, thanked Kennedy and the City of Lynn for their support. “If it weren?t for the raising of the flag invitation to us, the ILCNSCA would not have its own flag,” said Moore.Moore spoke about the fight for disability rights being a civil rights issue. Her organization focuses on peer advocacy and support in serving the disabled, or as she describes it, “run by and for people with disabilities.”?Disabilities can happen to any person at any time,” said Moore.Megan Mamaty, Ms. Wheelchair Massachusetts and South Shore native, said though she has been disabled her entire life, she didn?t realize how much the act had helped her. She has a part-time job at Walmart in Quincy, she rides public transportation and she has her own apartment all thanks to the ADA. “It?s only because of the ADA that I was able to travel from the South Shore to Lynn today,” she said.Also in attendance was Dr. Wayne Burton, President of North Shore Community College, who was recently appointed by Governor Deval Patrick to the Massachusetts Commission on Autism for his work in Washington, D.C. with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to get more funding for disabled students at North Shore. According to Burton, one in six Americans have a disability, either physical or mental.For the last three years, Burton has been working to stretch the funding of programs for the disabled so it will cover those up to grade 14, instead of discontinuing when a student graduates high school. “We aren?t prepared as we should be because there aren?t that many resources,” said Burton. Right now, the college uses its own funds to pay for those programs.He said that with a little extra help in education, disabled students can have the same opportunities as those who aren?t, adding that over half the jobs in the country require a college degree. Without help like tutors, note takers, adaptive lab equipment, and maybe a wheelchair ramp or two, the students are either not able to attend college or fall behind because of their disability. Burton himself rode around his college?s Lynn campus in a wheelchair one day and realized it took him an extra 15-20 minutes to get around.?None of us have our civil rights until all of us have them,” said Burton.