LAURA HERSHEY PAPERS

Laura Ann Hershey was a Colorado-based writer, poet, activist, and consultant. She was born on August 11, 1962, in Littleton, Colorado, where she grew up with her parents, Richard and Faye Hershey, and younger brother John. When she was a toddler, she was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). Similar to Muscular Dystrophy, SMA is a condition that in most cases causes significant disability due to muscle weakness that progresses over time. Hershey used a motorized wheelchair for mobility, and was an early adopter of Dragon voice recognition software which enabled her to write and research independently.

As the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon was gaining in popularity in the early 1970s, Colorado’s local chapter discovered Hershey’s poise and intelligence. The Hershey family became involved in the group’s fundraising activities, with Laura Hershey serving as Colorado’s poster child. She described this experience in her later essay, From Poster Child to Protester. “At the age of eleven, I was enlisted into this role of cheerful victim.” While she enjoyed some fame around these events, she was treated as a victim of a tragedy, as someone to be pitied. This experience began her path to disability awareness. Faye Hershey was actively involved in her daughter’s education, advocating for inclusion not only for Laura, but of all disabled children, in regular classroom instruction. This advocacy, coupled with Laura’s treatment at telethon events, inspired Hershey’s activism to integrate issues of access, dignity, and equality for disabled people, living “intersectionality” before the term was widely used.

Hershey attended Heritage High School (1975-1979), where she was active on the debate team and the school newspaper. She focused her studies on history, which became a serious topic for her while at Colorado College (CC) in Colorado Springs. She graduated with honors from CC in 1983, earning her Bachelor of Arts in History. The same year she was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship that allowed her to travel to England and begin networking with disability activists on a global scale. Her findings about disability rights in England resonated with Colorado’s struggles. This connection led CC to recognize her achievements with an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters in 1992. Later in life, she decided to pursue creative nonfiction writing, earning a Master of Fine Arts from Antioch University in Los Angeles in 2008.

Hershey’s prolific writing career included a variety of styles and genres. Her poems and essays explore diverse topics including the body, nature, community, activism, and social justice. She is the author of Strategies for Going Abroad: A Guide for People with Disabilities, a 2005 book offering stories and advice about international travel, published by Mobility International USA. Over 100 of her articles and essays have been published in journals, anthologies, websites, and magazines including Waccamaw Journal, U.S. News & World Report, National Parks, Ms. Magazine, Topic, off our backs, New Mobility, Mouth magazine, DisabilityWorld.org, Disaboom.com, and thenation.com. Her poems have appeared in numerous published anthologies, literary journals, and websites. An unpublished children’s manuscript entitled "Our House Needs a Ramp" describes accessible housing and shows inclusion in a family setting. Hershey was a 2010 Lambda Fellow in Poetry.

One of Hershey’s most famous works is a poem called “You Get Proud By Practicing.” It has been translated into Spanish and French, set to music by the Minnesota Women’s Consortium, performed by the Matrix Theater Justin D’Artists, and has been the topic of conferences, published in numerous poetry and disability anthologies, and was made into a poster. In addition to her own blog (www.laurahershey.com) and column in the Denver Post, Hershey wrote a blog called Life Support for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation’s website, and was a regular contributor to Huffington Post Denver. Hershey also offered workshops, speeches, readings, trainings and other presentations for a wide range of professional and community organizations. Her work has inspired disability activists around the world..

Hershey’s research included networking with disabled women at two international conferences, the United Nations Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) Forum on Women in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1985, and the NGO Forum on Women in Beijing, China, in 1995. She networked with disabled women exploring ideas of leadership in politics and grassroots settings in the global disability community. She integrated her findings in her work connecting U.S. foreign policy with global implications for disabled people. Her report, Leadership Development Strategies for Women with Disabilities: A Cross-Cultural Survey, funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, and her article China Diary, both furthered international understanding of the importance of independence and education for disabled people. Her reports called attention to and condemned the hurdles that women and girls with disabilities face internationally, including forced sterilization, physical and sexual abuse, and isolation from family life.

Hershey’s professional work included consulting to ensure accessibility and inclusion for people with disabilities. She worked for the cities of Arvada, Lakewood, and Denver to help them implement federally mandated Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. Her work with Denver’s Commission for People with Disabilities included educating developers and property owners about accessible housing. She wrote access guides for Elitch Gardens, the Arvada Center, and AssisTech Advocates, enabling more disabled people to participate in the community. On a national level, she was involved in policy review and analysis. She pressured the Social Security Administration to issue more user-friendly rules allowing disabled people to work. She reviewed policies for the U.S. Department of Education to ensure accessibility and inclusion in public schools.

Hershey is nationally recognized for her activism and advocacy on a wide range of disability rights and social justice issues. She served on several committees related to health care policy; she was a grant administrator for Colorado’s Department of Health Care Policy and Financing; she collaborated with American Friends Service Committee on disability community outreach; she challenged editors to increase coverage of disability rights issues; she lectured at the University of Denver; and she engaged in ongoing grassroots activism with groups such as ADAPT (American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today, formerly known as the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit), Not Dead Yet, and the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition. Hershey also led campaigns to remove Social Security work disincentives, to challenge the negative images of the Jerry Lewis Telethon, to increase visibility of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) people with disabilities, to improve Medicaid home and community-based services, and to promote the rights of home care workers. In recognition of her activism, Hershey received the 1998 President’s Award from President Clinton’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities.

Hershey and her partner, Robin Stephens, participated in Norwest Bank’s Disabled Community Home Ownership Program (DCHOP), which enabled them to purchase their home in Denver. They were active in Colorado’s LGBT community, attending social gatherings and educating about disability inclusion. They were both active in their families, celebrating milestones with parents and siblings, traveling together and enjoying destination holidays. Stephens and Hershey adopted a teenager named Shannon in 2010, after two years of fostering. Hershey passed away on November 26, 2010, after a short illness.

Robin Stephens is a Colorado-based lawyer, activist, writer and consultant. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science/Psychology from Linfield College in 1981, and a Masters of Urban Studies from Portland State University in 1984. In 2002, she received her Juris Doctor from the University of Denver, College of Law. During her career, she worked in Portland, Oregon, as the Project Director at the Educational Equity Network and the Employability Support Network. In Albany, New York she served as the Manager of Programs and Services at the Capital District Center for Independence. For the State of Washington, she was the Program Coordinator for the Governor's Committee on Disability Issues. When she moved to Denver, she worked as the Program Director for AssisTech Advocates and as an advocate at Atlantis Community, Inc. As a lawyer, she worked at Fox & Robertson, P.C., and at the Colorado Cross Disability Coalition. She has also been a community organizer for ADAPT and Not Dead Yet and remains active in the LGBT community.