I Can

- Guest post by Cass Irvin -

I can't sing and I can't dance but I can vote. (I can sing, actually -- but I shouldn't -- at least, not in public.)

People who know me well know I am big on voting. I'm not sure why voting has always been important to me. Maybe it's because it is something I can do.

Helen Keller once said: I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.

So I've been voting since high school -- many, many years ago. (Did you know teenagers did not always have the right to vote?) Life was not very accessible then. I registered to vote at the same time as my classmates. I just didn't arrive with them. All my classmates went downtown in big, yellow buses. School buses were not accessible then so my mom drove me downtown.

Maybe voting is important to me because it shows I'm equal to nondisabled people. My vote carries as much weight as anyone. My opinion matters.

And even though it is sometimes harder than it should be, I like the idea of going to the polls. I like the idea of people seeing me out there voting.

So vote -- because you can.

NOTE : Many of us can vote absentee from home; that makes voting very accessible. For information, to find out if you're eligible and for a form -- ASAP
go to: www.elections.jeffersoncountyclerk.org/absentee_voting.htm
The deadline is May 11th.

Bye for now,

Cass Irvin

About Cass:

Author, Home Bound, Temple University Press ISBN 1-59213-220-0
www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/1425_reg.html
Instructor, Disability History & Culture, Jefferson County Public Schools
Inductee, the Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame 2005