Dear President Obama,

Thank you for assuming the immense responsibilities associated with public office. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. McCain and Senator Dodd, as well as Representative Jan Schakowsky, who have introduced bills with the intention of improving both employment and the technologies used by persons with vision disabilities in America. Leadership that represents the greater than fifty-million persons with disabilities in our nation always pleases me.

The current unemployment rate experienced by people with disabilities in America would find our nondisabled counterparts rioting in the streets. It is with immense pleasure that today I find efforts such as the,’Think Beyond the Label,’ campaign in place. As a person who experiences several types of disabilities, to include one which is service-connected, I work to support the community of which I am a part. The work I do remains largely unrecognized and equally largely unpaid due to perceptions of what work is comprised of. Stigma, prejudice, and the perceptions of employers over decades of time have kept me out of a workforce I have been more than qualified to participate in.

Despite pursuing education and attempts at working with vocational rehabilitation; despite repeated efforts to approach a variety of employers, I have remained unemployed at an appropriate level over the decades. At age forty-five, I despair of every finding suitable employment. The site you find this letter presented on is an attempt to both serve the population I am a part of, as well as an attempt to more or less stay busy as I watch life pass by.

The situation I face is far from unique, Mr. President. People with disabilities pursue education, only to find that the employers in this nation continue to find ways to avoid us. We pursue vocational rehabilitiation, only to find that the departments set up for us to work with have us put washers on pegs and then do nothing. We pursue every avenue available to us, only to find that society itself is often not accessible. We attempt to interact with others, only to find that the old and tired stigmas and prejudices remain.

As I read the headlines in various media sources in regards to the battles you face, Mr. President, I sometimes wonder how well you would be able to perform the duties associated with your office should you be presented with such, ‘challenges.’ I sometimes wonder how well Congress, or the Senate would function if they were faced with disabilities that did not allow them to even climb the stairs without pain. I sometimes wonder, Mr. President, how the leaders of this nation would manage to function or even get through their day should they be faced with a society where seemingly every person in it held some form of deep-seated prejudice against their very existence.

The Americans with Disabilities Act does not include legislation covering accessibility and buildings over a certain age. For this reason, there are buildings in this nation that remain unaccessible. Employers in this nation continue to find reasons to somehow weasel around laws, leaving people with disabilities without jobs. City bus lines and transit services are experiencing budget crisis, leaving people with disabilities without transportation to the jobs they have managed to find and areas of the communities they live in. Organizations that support people with disabilities are experiencing these same budgetary crisis.

The one thing I have mentioned in this letter that should stand out in your mind more than anything else, Mr. President, is the figure of greater than fifty-million people with disabilities in this nation. I am asking you to discontinue including us in statements with seniors - we are a separate minority in this nation. We are America’s largest minority, in fact. We deserve some recognition in America.

Thank you for your time today Mr. President,

Thomas C. Weiss, M.A.