Picture
Caption: Art Blaser Life with a Disabilty
Picture
Caption: "On May 3, 1993,
I got up in the early morning.
I ran several miles, as I often did. Later that same morning,
I had a chiropractic adjustment. As the result of a brain-stem stroke I had while in the chiropractor's office,
I am now unable to walk without assistance, my speech is impaired, and my left side is paralyzed."
Art Blaser
Picture
Picture
Caption: How has your life changed? It probably has, but I'd say not as much as some people would think that it would. I've always been sort of interested in politics and society. I always liked to teach at Chapman. And it's always been where some things come easy and other things don't. This was one more of the sort of things that aren't going to come easy, like figuring out how other people teach from a chair.
Picture
Caption: In 1995, Blaser was unable to attend his own classes because of the lack of accessibility.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Caption: Has the role of fatherhood changed with your disability?
It has, but again I think in the way that everything changes. It's like the difference being older as opposed to being younger. It's hard to say. It's not the same as being 60 as it was being 10 years old. Is it the same being a parent and a disabled parent? Well, part of it that I've never been a non-disabled parent.
Picture
Caption: Blaser with his 14 year old son, Marcus
Picture
Picture
Picture
Caption: Let’s talk about the ADA. For people who don’t know, why is the ADA important and why should we be celebrating?
It’s an important civil rights statute. It really signifies a change between a hierarchical view of disability and people need to be taken care of daily. That people with disabilities are like anybody else. They have rights. They have civil rights.
Picture
Picture
Caption: “A society that values people with disabilities will also value people without disabilities Art Blaser
Picture
Picture
Caption: We talked about the legacy of the ADA. Have you ever thought about what you would like your legacy to be?
I guess I think about it somewhat in terms of my kids. I’m such a believer in independent living that I don’t want to say there has to be one thing people remember me for. But because I teach undergraduate students, I think about it and what they got out of my classes. Actually, at Christian's (Blaser's daughter) graduation from high school there was a friend of one of the mothers of a student who said, "Oh are you Art Blaser? I was in your class! I got an A!" And I said, “Well, gee, I hope I gave you something to think about.”
Picture
Picture
Caption: Full interview: www.joysharonyi.com/journal