David Paterson: Disability bias stronger than racism
March 12th, 2008Lieutenant governor has a history of defying the public’s expectations (New York Times):
He remembers becoming furious when Shirley Chisholm, the former congresswoman from Brooklyn, said she had encountered more bias because she was a woman than because she was black.
“Internally, I probably felt myself more discriminated against as a disabled person,” Mr. Paterson said in 2006. “And when I would experience discrimination from another African-American I would go ballistic. I thought black people were supposed to understand.”
– And more from the New York Times
Fellow Democrats and Republicans consider him to be more liberal than Mr. Spitzer and also a more deft politician, capable of healing the rancor that has driven Albany into gridlock.
… But some people who have applauded Mr. Spitzer’s combative style and ambitious reform agenda wonder whether Mr. Paterson is too accommodating, perhaps too gentle, to change Albany.
… As an infant, Mr. Paterson developed an infection that left him blind in his left eye and with severely limited sight in the other.
Because the public schools in New York City could not guarantee him an education without placing him in special education classes, his parents bought a house in Hempstead, on Long Island, where he became the first legally disabled person to attend the district’s public schools. He did well enough to be admitted to Columbia University — he graduated in 1977 with a degree in history — and Hofstra Law School.
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