Different Abilities
"I hope that you'll remember even when you're feeling blue that it's you I like, it's you yourself, it's you, it's you I like."
- Lyrics by Fred Rogers 1970 (PBS Kids)
- Lyrics by Fred Rogers 1970 (PBS Kids)
The Neighborhood celebrated diversity beyond race. Before passage of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, Rogers welcomed children with different abilities. Chrissy Thompson showed viewers her dreams were not limited by challenges with spina bifida.
"Part of the problem with the word disabilities is that it immediately suggests an inability... to do... things that many of us take for granted. But what of people who can’t manage their feelings... or those who have lost hope, who live in disappointment and bitterness?... These, it seems to me, are the real disabilities."
- Fred Rogers (The World According to Mister Rogers)
- Fred Rogers (The World According to Mister Rogers)
Jeffrey Erlanger explained how he became a quadriplegic
and why he needed a "fancy chair." "Mr. Rogers made me feel as if he was talking only to me. You know, there's obviously things I can't do but it doesn't really matter as much what I can't do. It's what I can do. That's how I try to live my life." - Jeffrey Erlanger 2007 (Wisconsin Public Television) |
Erlanger recounts his experience with Rogers. 2007 (YouTube)
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“You don't ever have to do anything sensational for people to love you. When I say it's you I like, I'm talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see or hear or touch."
- Fred Rogers Commencement Address at Dartmouth College 2002 (Dartmouth News)
- Fred Rogers Commencement Address at Dartmouth College 2002 (Dartmouth News)
Banner Image: Rogers at Pittsburgh's Memorial Home for Crippled Children 1978 (PBS/Jim Judkis)