Author, historian, and disability activist Paul Longmore died on Monday. I met Paul three or four times over the past fifteen years and was lucky enough to have heard him speak at several conferences and arrange to have him participate in two television documentaries in my role as a researcher for Sex TV.
I was just about to write that in addition to his best known work in the history of the disability rights movement and as an activist on issues of access and assisted suicide, Paul was willing to talk about sexuality and how disabled people are systemically denied basic sexual rights. But it isn't in addition to at all.
Paul clearly saw sexuality as a part of life and yet another site of resistance against an ablest world that denies that people with disabilities are people, let alone sexual beings, partners, sex pots, etc... I'm currently non-disabled but as an ally for over 15 years I know how hard it is for folks in the disability community to get sexuality on the table. My experience of Paul was that, while sexuality wasn't the focus of his work, it was part of his awareness and experience and he saw no reason why it shouldn't be talked about and fought for as a right alongside other rights that continue to be denied to specific groups of people.
Paul was always incredibly generous with his time and was that wonderful combination of brilliant and accessible (he had a lot to teach you, and he actually wanted to do it in a way that would help you learn). I've spent the morning reading remembrances online, and if you didn't know who Paul was before, take a few minutes out of your day and follow some of these links, it helps the mourners and the dead. Here's one quote from the video that's linked below which feels to me typical of Paul's attitude toward change and his role in making change:
"Great leaders do not create great movements. Great movements give rise to great leaders. . . No movement can exist without in this case millions of ordinary men and women asserting themselves to demand dignity and their rights. So that's what our movement is all about. That's our past. That's our present. That's our future."
2010 Video from ADA 20th Anniversary, words by Paul Longmore
2008 Audio Interview with Paul Longmore from Making History Podcast
Not Dead Yet - A Tremendous Loss - Paul Longmore Has Died
Secondhand Smoke: Paul Longmore, RIP
Disability Studies, Temple U.: RIP: Paul Longmore (1946-2010)
NPR: Paul Longmore, Historian And Advocate For The Disabled, Dies