A decade after pledging to protect the rights of disabled people, Germany still struggles to treat us equitably

I remember Mr. Wollny quite vividly — he was one of the first disabled people that I met. It was the first day of elementary school, a hot August morning in northern Germany, 1981. Mr. Wollny was the school’s director, and I was scared of this uncanny old man; I remember staring at his arm stump peeking out of his short-sleeved shirt. Just like the other kids were staring at me: too small for a six-year-old, with legs too fragile to stand on or even walk, I was carried in my mother’s arms.

Before entering elementary school, the term “disability” had no relevance to me. Weiterlesen

How We Get to Next, April 30 2019