Mr. John Parsons
National Park Service
Washington, DC USA

Dear Mr. Parsons;

I am Richard Roehm, a 35 year old Deaf person living in California. 
Secondly I am a victim of discrimination and I had a legal case already 
in the system and I have settled my case last summer after 3 years of 
negotiations.  I know what its like to be disabled.  I know how it feels 
to have been discriminated against and be treated as a second class citizen.   
I also feel other Deaf people are going through the same thing I did.
I have started an education project to help other Deaf people.  My newsletter
"Deaf Watch" was started in November 96.  It is a monthly e-mail newsletter 
with advocacy and Deaf related news.  On January 24, 1997 I have launched the
newsletter homepage and has lots of legal resources links and Deaf advocacy 
resources making it now the Ultimate Deaf Resource Center.

I want to see a statue of FDR in his wheelchair.  Hiding FDR's disability
is hurting many disabled people and they feel left out as the society would 
rather have an icon with an impression of perfection thus the exclusion of 
FDR's disability is depriving us disabled people of our visibility.  We want 
our visibility displayed on FDR's statue and that means FDR in his wheelchair.

As a Deaf activist, I would like to see that people with disabilities get
better recognition than just a poster or a mural or a piece of paper. I want
something stronger.   I dream of myself in a statue looking upward and 
holding the "I love you" handsign to the sky on a public park.  Having a
statue of FDR in his wheelchair will pave the way for other disability
activists like me to be given one of the highest forms of recognition.

Recognition is what achievers want when they do their work.  Having 
FDR in his wheelchair gives the disability community some recognition.
This statue shows that a polio victim can become an achiever and he has
achieved the Presidency of the United States.  This statue also shows the
disabled can become achievers.

The disability community is one of the largest and most underrepresented 
groups in the nation.

Richard Roehm
Deaf@activist.com

         ,,,
        (o o)
 ===oOO==(_)==OOo===================================================
 DEAF WATCH                           Orange County, California   
 Richard Roehm  
 Chief Editor              Internet : Deaf@activist.com 
                                      Nesmuth@hwsys.com
                                      Deaf_Workers_OC@usa.net
                  DEAF WATCH   
                  Http://www.deafwatch.com
                  DEAF WORKERS OF ORANGE COUNTY
     .oooO  Oooo. Http://home.hwsys.com/users/roehm/dwoc.htm
 ====(   )==(   )===================================================
      \ (    ) /
       \_)  (_/

Deaf Watch will continue to aggressively pursue justice, fairness, 
and equality for the Deaf Community as it has been doing since November 
1996.  We have chosen that EDUCATION is the best way accomplish this
objective.