Purple Monsters on Wheels--text version

Front Cover

GRAPHICS

  • The words Purple Monsters on Wheels hand drawn in capitol letters. Originally the letters were just outlined in black and the green of the cover was allowed to show through, but on the webpage the letters are purple.

  • Under the title is a cute little monster in a trash can.

    • TEXT

      Created by Ramona Harvey, and information on how to contact me. E-mail rmharvey@oocities.com for information about this and other Purple Monsters zines. On the original zine there is a date of creation.

    Inside Front Cover

    GRAPHICS  A bunch of hearts with dedications in them surrounding one big heart in the middle. The big heart in the middle says "Everyone who helped me be who I am". On top of the big heart is the words "MORE THAN" Below the word "BIOLOGY"

    TEXT

    Dedications:

  • All the physical therapist who have been my friend
  • All of Bradford Woods for the dream
  • My gym teacher, a friend, you know who you are
  • the lady in the park
  • All the people in my zine class THANKS
  • Dr. Suess, because a person's a person no matter how small
  • Marsha my hero R.I.P.
  • Marisa thanks for the laughs

    • Page 1

    GRAPHICS

      A picture of Ed Roberts' electric chair being pulled up capitol hill on last symbolic march on Washington after his death March 14, 1995.

      The words: "Not Dead Yet"

    TEXT

    What you are reading right now is a small part of a much bigger picture. Most people do not even know that there is such a thing as a Disabled Rights Movement but there is and the fighters aren't just parents of the disabled trying to make a better world for their children. Most people don't know who Ed Roberts was though one of my friends described him as:

    "GOD, he is like the founder of the ADA"

    There is a cultural difference between those born disabled and those who have become disabled later in life, but people who have been segregated from disabled life and culture don't realize this...the idea that there is a disabled culture is often disputed, but having seen it and been a part of it I know it exists. What fascinates me is that it exists despite the fact that most people with disabilities do not have disabled families, and come from very different backgrounds. The culture exists despite the fact many disabled people are isolated, while others spend their entire life with others like them. It exists without clear understanding or recognition. This strange culture must be the result of suppression, and the conscious and subconscious expectations that are held (or NOT held)for people with disabilities in our culture.

    Page 2

    GRAPHICS

  • Cartoon of the Earth in right hand corner
  • Picture of a cartoon person on hands and knees

    • TEXT

      Take the Crip Trip. See My World

    Page 3

    GRAPHICS

      A guy in a speeding wheelchair

    TEXT

      Go where no TAB (Temporarily able Bodied) ever really gone but should...

    Page 4

    GRAPHICS

      Ableism Dragon

    TEXT

  • People talking through or at you ot to others, never to you
  • Sit up straight you don't want people to think you are disabled

  • The ADA is an important act for anyone with a disability it gave us the right to work. Something most take for granted, but it did not come easy. The ADA came about in 1990, we got the right to a free appropriate public education in 1975. Do the math and the years between are just long enough for a person to get an education. The small percentage of people who benifited from the 1975 law were graduating and looking for jobs...more importantly they were educated, and it is harder to keep educated people in their proper place. The Government had backed itself into a corner, like it often does.

    • Page 5

    GRAPHICS

  • Sticker--Disablism, the radical notion that different is good--Top Left corner
  • Hot Air Balloon--Top Right corner
  • Sticker--Able-ism, the widespread notion that disability is abnormal--bottomcenter

    • TEXT

    Deep Wounds, Quiet House


    At night when it is calm, and quiet and all the lights in
    my house are out, just before I drift off to sleep I wonder...
    I wonder about about my past, the good times and the bad.
    Sometimes when it is quiet my defenses callapse and the pains
    and sadnesses of my life, and the agony I feel because the
    lack of understanding of other people overwhelm me, as I
    begin to cry.
    Not the silent cry that happens deep down inside everytime
    someone laughs, or points a finger, or stares at me funny.
    But a cry that stems from the pain and sadness I all to often
    feel, but can rarely stand to share. It is a cry amplified
    by the quiet night, but muffled by the fear that someone
    else might come and hear.
    So even then...when I am all alone I struggle not to cry
    and at this time I miserably fail...
    no matter how hard I try.

    Page 6

    GRAPHICS

       Background of a gym locked gym door

    TEXT

    I never really took gym until high school. Before high school if I participated in any type of gym activities, they were out of school. I never thought it was a big deal. I didn't think sitting on the bench watching effected me. I was wrong.

    In my high school gym class I was often paralyzed with fear. Intellectually I knew I had nothing to fear, but that didn't stop the panic. I was lucky I had the teacher I did. She did not always understand but she was patient with me.

    Unseen Spectator


    I am the unseen spectator
    Sitting on a bench
    I sit in the corner on a bench
    I sit in the corner pushed out
    of the way
    and in the corner I will stay
    quiet and lonely and out of the way
    for I am the lonely spectator
    sitting on a bench


    I am the unseen spectator
    Sitting on the bench
    I sit in the corner on a bench
    I sit and watch other people
    run and jump and laugh and play
    but in the corner I will stay
    quiet and lonely and out of the way
    for I am the lonely spectator
    sitting on a bench.

    Page 7

     GRAPHICS

  • Top Left--Boy in a wheelchair with Trophy--Caption--"A winning combination, Ability, Determination and Attitude

  • Lower left--No Waiting Any Time sign

  • Lower Right--Guy in wheelchair exercizing.

  • Top Right--two airplanes flying around text.

    • TEXT

       SUPERMAN TO SUPERCRIP? Chris Reeves falls off a horse and is forced to do what thousands do everday...the difference is he has money and fame. Is he the "ideal crip" or is he just lucky?

    Page 8

    GRAPHICS

  • A Drawing of a teddy bear

  • A heart in bottom left corner

    • TEXT

    (held by bear) I told one of my campers on the 4th of july that people are like fireworks, when you first get them they are just pieces of cardboard that don't look like much. You never know what is inside them, but if the right lighter ignites then they explode into something brilliant and wonderful. I believe this fully. The camper, who was not supposed to be able to push herself long distances began pushing herself like crazy. The last day of camp she whispered to me "See, I'm a firework" and I was bursting with pride, not only did I igniie her...she ignited me. This type of thing happens all the time to me, and I think it says a lot about what is really important in life. When I die I will have nothing, but the people I touch will have me.

    Ramona Harvey

    Hi Ramona,
    I still wonder what people think of me, but not as much as I used too, thanks to my husband. More doors have opened to me as a disabled woman, more then ever before though there srill needs to be improvements. I feel if I make a mistake it is a negative thing for me where as if an able-bodied person made a mistake it is forgoten about

    Jean

    PAGE 9

    GRAPHICS

  • A bomb in top left corner

  • An article "Animals May Riot When Cripples Approach--Zoo barred disabled to 'spare the animals'"The date of the article is 7/6/96

  • A judges mallet with a mean looking cartoon face smashing something. on the mallots forhead is a skull and cross bones.

    Centerfold Spans Two Pages

    GRAPHICS

     A picture of three babies crying. Pasted in the center of the picture is the word Mystery. The caption of the picture: "the mere thought of can just ruin your whole day...

    TEXT

    ordered from Top Left to Bottom Right

  • Many people have been discriminated against throughout history. Historically the sub-human treatment of any oppressed group has been justified by the belief that these people were disabled even when they were not. Just think about how much harder it would be for these people to gain rights if they actually were disabled... If you can you are one step closer to understanding.
  • My friend Anne asked a care-giver tp take her to the bathroom. Anne was asked to hold it--she couldn't. She had to sleep in urine for the rest of the night.
  • In 1995 a father killed his daughter, who had CP. I don't know how severe her CP was but she could push a manual wheelchair, there is controversy in the U.S. & Canada about whether or not it was a good thing.
  • Mom told me if I had enough faith and wanted it bad enough, I would be healed. I must have done something wrong, because no matter how hard I tried, and how much I wanted, I was never healed.
  • "I told my daughter about her disability because that is WHO she is and we can't change that."
  • Free Our People
  • "But this is different. These people are disabled
  • As recent as 50 years ago disabled people were hidden from society by their own families. Nobody blamed them...Now many are hidden in group and nursing homes, that often do not adequately meet the needs of it's patients.
  • "I wish my son could be more then just a person in a wheelchair"
  • Many people still fight the education for handicapped children law.
  • The ADA is not perfect, it has loopholes that many people will find and take advantage of. What ever their reason: Money, Fear, or Ignorance the irony is eventually they will suffer because of their own acts. I have seen it happen again and again...someone becomes disabled and all of the sudden my problems becomes real to them, after all they worked their whole lives and suddenly feel discarded, like last weeks paper. Sometimes I want to stranggle these people, sometimes I want to laugh at them...sometimes I almost feel sorry for them, but most times I want to comfort them...help them realize they are still important and worthy of love and respect, like anyone else.