[Ansteorra] SCA, the ADA, and all of us special note

[Faelan Caimbeul]

I've been resisting the temptation to chime in on this, but I can't anymore.

Duchess Willow makes a good point, especially in our kingdom where we have
fighters in wheelchairs (he's also a Centurion, I believe) and a one legged
Knight (who killed me at Three Kings). These men clearly do not need the
level of help that some others do and are an inspiration to everyone. It may
also be a byproduct of our mundane lives not to offer help sometimes for
fear of insulting the person by the offering. I have had this happen to me.

My fear about the way this thread is going is that certain people are trying
to brow-beat the rest of us with the ADA rules, when it's questionable how,
or even if, they truly apply to a rather unique organization like ours. The
ADA is a list of ways to make a building or facility accessible to disabled
persons. We are an organization without property, using other people's
facilities at all times. Therefore, we can only be as compliant as the sites
we use.

That being said, there is a lot of consideration being given to people with
medical needs. In fact, quite a bit, and the insinuation that it isn't is
frankly insulting to the people going out of their way to do so. The
unfortunate conundrum, as I see it, is that our activities are not
necessarily conducive to things like wheelchair access and electricity.
Historically, the SCA has played outside, in the wilderness (so to speak).
This makes some accommodations a bit harder to manage. For instance,
fighting and archery will always need a large open space and may or may not
be accessible to wheelchairs and those with a hard time walking on unsteady
ground. It's an unfortunate fact of life. Warlord is a great example. Every
site we've looked at we have taken into consideration the availability of
electricity for those that need it, and access for the mobility challenged.
The insinuation otherwise is insulting to the scores of people doing the
legwork on this, and other events.

The only problem I see is that the specific needs aren't being voiced. I
have heard little on what specifically people need. I have seen a lot of "no
one's looking out for us" but very little of "this is what I need
specifically". Help to fix the problem, not make it worse.

The SCA's population is getting older, and going to have to deal with
everything that comes with that, which we can, and will, as long as we don't
fight with each other, toss around accusations, and put our heads together
to find a solution. The nature of our beast is that we will never be able to
include everyone all the time, but we can always try to do the best we can
without loosing site of the chivalry and courtesy we all strive for.

Just my two cents,
Faelan


On 3/25/07, willowdewisp at juno.com <willowdewisp at juno.com> wrote:
>
> Dear Folks especially Chass
> I want to thank everyone for the impute. I really want to those you that
> seem to be looking for solutions. I was very upset and didn't see any hope
> and now I do. I see you acting like real Anstoerrans.
> Chass and all of us that have problems.   Everybody please contact me off
> the list. As someone that has had problems with my heart I found my self
> unable to get to the List field and my chair. Many people passed me and did
> nothing. Finally I stopped this young lady and she ran off to tell the
> people with the carts. All in All I was there for an hour. My point is not
> it took so long, but it took so long because I didn't ask. In the everyday
> world people are taught not to impose themselves on others. Because of that
> it is important to speak up if you need help. This is even true with help at
> events. In the past we could sit there and look in distress, but now we need
> to talk to individuals.
> Duchess Willow de Wisp
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