[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 162 (Thursday, November 14, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1663]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING SUSAN NUSSBAUM

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 14, 2013

  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my friend, 
treasured playwright and author, Ms. Susan Nussbaum, on her 60th 
birthday. Susan has been a groundbreaking voice for persons with 
disabilities. Through her advocacy with disability groups, Susan has 
written plays and recently a remarkable book that has helped to change 
the perception of disabled people throughout Chicago and well beyond.
  Susan acquired her disability in 1977 at the age of 24 in a car 
accident. She refused to allow her newfound disability to define her 
after this tragic accident. In the 1970's, Susan became involved in the 
disability rights movement and helped to win key fights concerning 
wheelchair-accessible public transportation and the remodeling of 
sidewalks, schools, stores, and theaters. The strength and character 
she built through those wins continues to shine today.
  Susan worked at Access Living, a wonderful organization in Chicago 
dedicated to inclusion, independent living and empowerment for people 
with disabilities. While working at Access Living Susan founded of the 
Empowered Fe Fes, a peer support and advocacy group of young women with 
disabilities. Susan knew that first and foremost, a girl with a 
disability is a girl, with the same feelings, emotions, wants, and 
desires of any other girl. The group gave young women with disabilities 
an opportunity to speak freely in a safe and private space and express 
the challenges and experiences they encounter on a daily basis. The 
Empowered Fe Fes challenges traditional stereotypes about disability 
and gender. My wonderful Constituent Advocate Taina Rodriguez, who has 
been helping residents in my district office for over 12 years, was 
Susan's assistant in the Empowered Fe Fe's and since she was in high 
school has had a special mother-daughter relationship with Susan.
  Challenging stereotypes has defined much of Susan's work. On stage, 
Susan has written and directed plays that reframe disability through 
the lens of someone with an authentic disability experience. Her work 
has been showcased at Second City, Live Bait, Steppenwolf, and more. 
She has written such plays as No One As Nasty and Mishuganismo. ``No 
One as Nasty'' appears in a collection titled Beyond Victims and 
Villains: Contemporary Plays by Disabled Playwrights. Susan refuses to 
write her characters in a certain stereotypical light. Instead, she 
portrays them in a realistic manner, which has helped to change the 
stereotype of disabled characters. Susan's work has given voice to a 
disability experience that transcends the historical portrayal as 
someone who needs to be pitied, cured or worshipped. Too often, on 
television, in the movies, in literature, and on stage, people with 
disabilities are presented as bitter, depressed and pitiable, or as 
unnaturally heroic and inspirational. Rarely do you see a character 
with a disability defined as a full participant in our society who just 
happens to have a disability. I say rarely, because there are people 
like Susan Nussbaum.
  Recently, her achievements as a writer have gone beyond the stage and 
expanded into literature. Her novel, Good Kings, Bad Kings, earned the 
2012 Barbara Kingsolver PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged 
Fiction. The novel follows the lives of young people with disabilities 
as they tell their stories about abuse, neglect and love while living 
in a state institution. Barbara Kingsolver presented Susan the award 
and said, ``The characters in Good Kings Bad Kings made me laugh, over 
and over again, and cry and cheer. This is fiction at its best . . . A 
stunning accomplishment.''
  Susan's body of work has transformed the way we think about 
disability. I encourage everyone, including my colleagues, to read Good 
Kings Bad Kings.
  Among friends she's been called ``Disability Culture Queen'' and by 
her family she's known as ``Comrade Auntie Sue,'' ``Mami'' and just 
plain ``Sue.'' Congratulations to Susan Nussbaum on your many amazing 
accomplishments, and a very happy 60th birthday!

                          ____________________