The only thing I can do to honor Senator Kennedy’s life is to acknowledge the debt I and millions of other people with disabilities owe him. He played an instrumental in passing the Americans with Disabilities Act, a milestone civil rights law that, in vision if not always in practice, finally recognized people with disabilities as full citizens. Kennedy was a stalwart advocate for disability rights and a tireless champion of economic and social justice for everyone whom the American Dream had left behind. He didn’t live long enough to realize his decades-long goal of passing universal health care legislation, but his legacy will always serve as a beacon to those of us committed to a progressive and unapologetically liberal future for this country.
Senator Kennedy eulogized his brother Robert with the following words, but they serve as a fine tribute to his own life:
Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world.
