[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 94 (Friday, July 12, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1249]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      WE WILL LEAD ON, JUSTIN DART

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 12, 2002

  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, our Nation has never seen the likes of 
Justin Dart. His vision, his dedication, and his passion for improving 
our country and the lives of our people were unwavering. What he 
accomplished during his lifetime was nothing short of miraculous. 
Justin Dart's contributions for equality for persons with disabilities 
and for justice for all people will be felt for generations to come. He 
would have expected nothing less of himself and from those who joined 
him in the struggle.
  Justin Dart was a trailblazer for justice. For 30 years, with his 
lifetime partner, companion, friend and wife Yoshiko, and with many of 
us following closely behind, he led the way for the radical empowerment 
of persons with disabilities and for universal healthcare.
  Justin Dart's life was changed forever when he contracted polio and 
the doctors proclaimed that he was only 3 days away from death. Those 3 
days turned into 40 years. Polio left him in a wheelchair, but Justin 
often said, ``I count the good days in my life from the time I got 
polio.'' He used each and every day to the fullest. He traveled, 
organized, spoke, and enjoyed every minute of it.
  He began his advocacy campaign in earnest following his visit to a 
rehabilitation center for children with Polio in Vietnam in 1966. He 
would later write of the scene of young starving children left to 
suffer. ``That scene is burned forever in my soul. For the first time 
in my life I understood the reality of evil, and that I was a part of 
that reality.'' Since that day forward, he dedicated himself and his 
resources to what he believed to be the most basic of human and civil 
rights--the right to live free and in dignity. Through sheer will, he 
fought to end the centuries old discrimination against people with 
disabilities.
  Because of his years of hardwork, along with those who joined him in 
the fight, people with disabilities in this country finally received 
what is rightfully theirs, but what took so many years and so many 
struggles to achieve. In 1990, with Justin Dart on the podium, the 
Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law. Understanding that 
without a grassroots movement, there is no catalyst for change, Justin 
Dart did not miss the opportunity to protest that the fact that he and 
only two other disability advocates were on stage when President George 
Bush signed the ADA. He said, ``hundreds of others should have been 
there as well.''
  Justin Dart, the father of the ADA, did not stop, did not rest, but 
instead pushed ahead with another cause after the victory of 1990. 
Universal healthcare became his passion and he once again traveled the 
nation calling himself ``a full-time citizen soldier in the trenches of 
justice.'' When he spoke in Chicago in the early 1990s on universal 
healthcare, people drove hundreds of miles to hear him. He later fought 
tirelessly against attempts to weaken or even repeal the ADA and the 
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. He turned back the 
attacks. Once again, Justin Dart was victorious.
  In his lifetime, Justin Dart was unwavering in his convictions. And 
in his final words to us, he wrote, ``Thanks to you, I die in the 
beautiful belief that the revolution of empowerment will go on. I love 
you so much. I'm with you always. Lead on! Lead on!'' Justin, we will.

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