Commission and ABA President present Paul G. Hearne Award to Lester Pritchard

Illinois disability rights advocate praises Award's namesake, calls for more work to be done.

2008 Paul G. Hearne Award Recipient, Lester T. Pritchard, his wife, Barb, and ABA President H. Thomas Wells, Jr.

Helping to put some fine finishing touches on the 2008 American Bar Association (ABA) Annual Meeting, the Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law (Commission) held its annual reception for lawyers with disabilities on Monday, August 11, 2008 at the New York Hilton. Alex Hurder, the Commission’s Chair and a professor at Vanderbilt University Law School, opened the proceedings with a warn welcome. He then introduced the President of the ABA, H. Thomas Wells, Jr., who had been sworn into his new office only a few hours earlier. In one of his first official acts, President Wells described the many accomplishments of Lester T. Pritchard of Urbana, Illinois as an advocate for people with disabilities, and with Paula Boggs, General Counsel of Starbucks Coffee Company--a corporate sponsor of the event--presented Lester with the 2008 Paul G. Hearne Award for Disability Rights. As President Wells noted, Lester was being recognized for his many accomplishments. This included establishing Citizens for Housing Options Meeting Equity Standards, which helped pass one of the nation’s first ordinances that requires publicly funded buildings to be accessible to individuals with developmental disabilities.

The highlight of the evening, however, was when Lester and his wife rolled up to the podium and delivered a moving acceptance speech. Because his speech is impaired due to cerebral palsy, Lester’s words were clarified by his wife.

Below is Lester’s speech:

Thank you President-Elect Wells, Chairperson Hurder, and members of the Commission, and thank you all for such a warm reception. I am thrilled to be in your distinguished company, and to be receiving this award.

I need to begin with a disclaimer of sorts. The work that has come to your attention I did not do alone. There could never be enough time to list all those who have inspired me, led me, challenged me, and supported me. And while each one of these individuals deserves recognition, and most, if not all of the credit, all of them would kill me if I used my time here just to do that.

I really did not quite know what to think when I learned that I would be receiving this award. I thought, “Why would a group of lawyers give me an award?” I’m not a lawyer. And, if the truth were told…I have had no desire to become one.

But…then I got in touch with the character or the award’s namesake, Paul Hearne. You see…Paul Hearne knew that America is a country of freedom, democracy and individual rights. It is a country founded on values such as fairness, equity, and equal opportunity for all. And, just because someone happens to be different in some aspect, it doesn’t make them any less of a person. These principles form the cornerstone of our society and the laws that govern it.

Throughout our history, however, people have been treated unfairly and segregated in one form or another for various reasons. African Americans, for example, were forced to sit in the back of public buses and not allowed to enter “white-only” restaurants. Society viewed this as a problem in the person, namely the color of skin.

The same went for women. When women were denied the right to vote prior to 1919, it was their problem caused by their gender.

But the Civil Rights Movement and Women’s Movement helped us learn that the so-called “problem” was never skin color or gender, but rather social perceptions and constructs.

The same is true for people with disabilities. The real problem is not the disabling condition itself, but social perceptions that promote segregated environments for folks with disabilities.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of many individuals like Paul Hearne, however, our society has come a long way. Today, more and more people with disabilities are leading normal lives of their own.

Having said that, however, I think we all would agree that our society still has a long way to go. This is so, particularly for those with significant disabilities…those thousands of American citizens who are currently confined in institutions…not because they have committed crimes…but merely because of their disabling conditions.

And so we must continue the struggle for freedom and justice. Because, as Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom.”

Again, I am truly proud and honored to receive this award. Thank you.