Care Enough To Act
Working in Computer Security was strangely perfect preparation for the world of Disability: Everyone says “I care A LOT about Security”, but when you ask them for time or money or resources… crickets.
I get it.
It is human.
We all have priorities.
And if something is not at the top, it just doesn’t get done.
How do we get people to move from “Caring” to “Acting”?
Community
I have been in awe of the mass of ordinary people of Minneapolis who have stood up to protect their neighbors, exercised their First Amendment Rights to speak and assemble in the face of brutal intimidation, set up whistle patrols to warn their neighbors, provided food, legally challenged illegal actions by badged thugs.
This is community in action… and it has been cultivated for years.
Start small. Steady persistent community building and action.
Starting Small
Our local teachers union (PAEA) has been trying some new things recently. One of my favorite actions is to request that each of their members attend ONE school board meeting during the next year. At the last meeting in January, there were a couple of dozen teachers present in their union shirts (muted by coats as it was pretty chilly).
It was impressive to see. Only the president spoke, though I think other teachers would have been welcome
A simple action and their presence was felt.
If it continues, its effects will compound.
…. so why don’t we shamelessly steal the same idea?
The Massive Math of Minimal Activism – 3 Hours a Year
Here in Palo Alto, there are just over 1000 students with IEPs and several hundred more with 504 plans.
Let’s start going to meetings (one meeting per parent per year…)
For simplicity, lets just run the math for the IEP households….
For each “Student with Disabilities”, there are two parents (usually)…
That makes 2000ish parents.
There are 12 school board meetings(ish) during the year… so, if we did the same, that would be (2000/12) =
166 (or so) special education parents at each board meeting…
If just 10 percent of those parents spoke about their experiences (166/10) …
call it 16 parent speakers at each meeting… about their special education experience – good or bad (just one to two minutes probably).
(here’s my free guide to “Speaking at Public Meetings” to get you started).
This would put us consistently as one of the most active parent communities in the district.
(Actually, it would put us decisively as the most active parent group in the community)
Our voices would be heard and have impact… each additional voice is a multiplier.
All for just an investment of 3 (maybe 4) hours in a year!
A small individual investment.
A huge community impact.
If our school board doesn’t move you (or you don’t live here!)… go to your city council or county school board or meet with your representatives or legislators or whoever (and wherever you live).
Ask others to do the same.
In California in 2026, there are 827,105 students with disabilities (7.5 million in the US in 2022)…
There were 39,512,000 disabled people in California in 2022 (46,824,000 in the US in 2023 = 14% of the total population).
(Numbers are similar elsewhere in the world)
Imagine the change we could make if each of us (and perhaps members of our families and other allies) just took 3 hours once, during the year to show up, and maybe speak about our experience of disability publicly.
It would be a spectacular, quiet ruckus.
“Nothing About Us Without Us”… starts with all of us simply showing up.
I’ve never felt any less welcome than other community members at public meetings or by public officials (almost always).
And sometimes, really more often than not, simply reminding others that disabled people are part of the community spurs change (slowly, no magic here, but it is a start).
3 hours a year.
See you at the next meeting…. and let me know how it goes for you!
