Arwen,Thank you!What a skillful act of lovingkindness in creating and producing "Thrown From the Holiday Train."Scott

Thanks for sharing that story Arwen.I appreciate your kindness and gentleness, but also bemoan the fact that bullies ruled the day that day, and caused you so much pain.I lived around New York Jews for years in Florida. While they are often accused of being "pushy" or "overbearing", etc. If this had happened to one of them, they would have looked the two men in the eye and told them that you wanted both their full names. Once gotten, they would have said, "if you can't come up with a legitimate reason to put me off this train, I'm going to file a law suit and your names will be at the top of the defendants list."This tactic proved very helpful on two occasions when my 91 year old mother was being denied care by her HMO as well (another form of bully).I learned from black people in the south, that if you just try to "go along" with the situation, you will be discriminated against.I also have to say that I was very surprised that your family did not get off the train with you in solidarity and also raise a ruckus. I can't imagine they would enjoy the ride after watching you be treated unfairly by the staff.I'm not trying to be mean here, just point out that a lot of discrimination happens here because people (in a spirit of trying to get along) seem to cooperate with their oppressors. After 4 years of seeing clients and dealing with people, it's just nuts, people here are so obsessed with "getting along" that it makes it easy for bullies to have the day because no one will object, no one will say "Hell no", or otherwise do what in most other places is considered appropriate defending of one's honor and humanity.I think it's the real reason that depression rates are so high here, not the weather.Think about it, in all those rape prevention classes, we're taught to make lots of noise and fight back. It's the same thing.I hope this year, you gather up a large group of friends, and invite the press too, and if they do this again, make a BIG stink about it.I am constantly telling clients, "You don't need them to like you, but you do need them to respect you."Hope that helps. Ed Garren

What a contradiction: Our city (Portland, OR) can name a street to honor a woman (Rosa Parks) who 54 years ago just wanted to be treated equally in her transportation choices, yet today others continue to be denied that simple respect, that simple equality :(On a positive note, I so appreciate the example you set in responding to this hurtful situation. No doubt it was hard to think clearly when it was happening, but you followed up with such a creative and non-adversarial message and medium. That's so like you - may your message be spread far and wide!Terry

Hello everyoneLast Winter holiday I boarded an excursion train with my family and was forced off because the organizers wouldn't take "wheelchairs." Instead of pursuing legal or traditional advocacy strategies to redress the harms of that day--which are often so adversarial that the people responsible for harm turn off their sense of compassion for the people they have hurt--I wanted to spend energy in ways that are intended to be healing for me, and for everyone who witnesses this story. After much thought I chose to write and produce a digital story. The story, Thrown From the Holiday Train, is FINALLY ready to be shared with all of you!I invite you to: 1. Watch this short story (it's about 5 minutes long) 2. Share it far and wide with everyone you know 3. Let me know if you feel more connected to your Will to help people with disabilities be with the ones they loveThrough sharing my story, I hope to help people watching connect with their WILL to help people with disabilities be with their families. I believe that if we stay connected to this sense of will, that the logistics of building ramps, lifts, etc. flow easily from this deeper desire to help people be with the ones they love. It’s amazing what can happen when our will and sense of compassion are engaged.For my next project, I am considering focusing on how the incident affected my nephew and our relationship. After witnessing the event, my nephew (who was three at the time) began to experiment with discriminating and separating me from my family because of my use of a wheelchair, reflecting what the adults around him were modeling. Although being ‘thrown’ from the train was emotionally painful for me, it was seeing the ways it had affected him that inspired me to act. After you watch this one, please let me know if the next chapter a story you want to hear and watch!Thanks for reading and sharing.

Sorry for the lack of spacing in my last post, oops!

Hi Arwen;The spacing is automatic, no matter how you try to space it otherwise.I am a child of the Civil Rights movement in the segregated south. It is the only large social and civil rights movement that ever occurred in this country, and one that obviously never made it to Portland.What so many folks here don't seem to get is that, when someone is being a bully, the only way to deal with it is in an "adversarial" manner. That doesn't mean you have to go off on the person, scream, or be abusive. But it DOES mean standing (or sitting) one's ground, and refusing to budge. If you never saw "Gandhi" or "King, From Montgomery to Memphis" then I urge you to do so.I am a mental health professional, and I ask you to consider the mental health implications, particularly to your nephew. What did your lack of confrontation teach him, or others? That it's okay to be disrespectful to people in wheel chairs?I've discussed your situation with peers from around the country, and all of us are puzzled by two things. Why you didn't fight, and why your family didn't fight for you.It is just incomprehensible. And I have family in Alabama. If anyone messed with one of their kids this way, there would have been a fight, maybe just words, but allowing such a gross injustice in 2008 to occur just means it will happen again.Sorry to be this way, but there is no glory in losing. If you want to talk about this more, call me, I sent my number to you in an eMail this AM.What would have happened if Rosa Parks had cooperated and gotten up and moved to the back of the bus? I'm sorry, but from my perspective, there is no nobility or celebration of letting a bully win, particularly when lots of people struggled and died so we can have freedom and civil rights for ALL in this country.

I would like to mention, since you don't in your video or comments, the possible answer to why you and the other man were asked to disboard. A historical designation offers some exceptions from ADA, for instance the trolley that runs from Lloyd Center to Downtown doesn't allow wheelchairs and isn't expected to.Outside of that: I am appalled that your family left you on the platform. Do they not love you? As a white woman from the Pacific Northwest, I have spent my entire adult life fighting the oppression of my own family and the cultural expectations that I do not rock the boat, that I do not matter as much as the person next to me, and that complying with the culture of nice is more important than my own existence. We do not have to subsume our right to live so that others are not inconvenienced. It is possible to be polite and still get answers. Since you did not mention in your video, I assume that you have never received an adequate answer to why you could not ride on the train. I grieve that your family appears to place pleasure for some over solidarity for all. You are as valuable as your nephew. He will not suffer for not riding a train, but he will suffer for not knowing your full humanity.

I can appreciate how she felt not being allowed to ride but what everyone seems to forget is that train was built long before there was a disability act. The people that work on that train are all volunteers and they have a strict contract with the railroad people and their insurance company and that includes no wheelchairs, so you can't blame the volunteers for doing what was in their contract. I and my daughter went for the Holiday Train ride and truth be told there really is not enough room for a wheelchair and because it is such an old train they did not make accommodations for disabled people. I have even been on Amtrak to Seattle and the cars I was on did not have wheelchair accommodations. Also, if you were "Thrown" off the train (which I doubt) why didn't your family get off with you, that seems like a very selfish act on their part to go ahead and ride the train and leave you there in the rain. You can try to get everyone to feel sorry for you but you put yourself in that position - face the fact there will always be places that you cannot go because of your wheelchair. I'm sorry you are in that predicament but there is more to your story than you are telling.

I am glad to read the responses that have been offered so far, it's seems that my story has touched each of you in some way. The issue of 'historic designation' is often used when people with disabilities are asking for access to older buildings or, in this case, trains. My response is a question that I'd like to pose to those of you that feel the lack of access on trains is an important aspect of history to preserve. Why?

Gale - thanks for sharing your own experiences of the Holiday Train, as an obviously able-bodied person able to judge there isn't "enough space" for a person using a wheelchair. I find it amazingly ironic that you would offer your words in the manner you chose in response to Arwen's story - - - did you watch it at all?????? I can only imagine you did not. In the video, Arwen says "all it takes is people with a will and a plan," and you offer neither. Instead, you offer the same tired old stories used to justify exclusion and oppression (e.g., "the law says so" or "it's just built that way" or "they're just volunteers"). Thank God that Arwen didn't spend anytime making as many excuses as you offer - and I am so grateful for people like Arwen who can rise above simplistic forms of response to violence, and offer a hand to those willing to create a better world. Gale-how does your response create a better world? By the way, "doubting" the veracity of Arwen's story, or saying there's "more to your story than you are telling" is just completely tactless. If people such as yourself that rode the train want to tell their story (as you do) or if the volunteers want to, or if the Holiday Train organizers want to, they are most welcome to create whatever kind of story they want. Arwen does nothing here that denies, hides, or "limits" some body else's story. She asks questions, and does so kindly and thoughtfully. In that sense, she acts with way more heart and humanity than you offer or the Holiday Train folks offered to her.

This is Arwens' Mom, Jo Anne, here. I'd like to answer a few of the criticisms of our family in the 'Thrown From the Train' incident. I don't know if any of your have had a child come into adulthood and then use the use of a big part of their body or not, but I can tell you, from a parenting point of view, it is a challenge. Arwen is an outstanding woman who has always had Voice. We encourage her to use her Voice in any way she can to advocate for herself and others. I did get off the train with her, and although I wanted to cry, scream and do unspeakable acts to the people involved, I stood in solidarity with Arwen and let her speak for herself. She did stand her ground, and wouldn't move when the RR volunteers were trying madly to get her out of the way (and out of view). The decision for the rest of the family was made with all of us after a short conference. Our Grandson was 3 at the time and was looking forward to the 15 minute trip more than you can imagine. It was decided on the spot, in the short amount of time we had for me to stay and the rest of the family to continue. We do support Arwen, all of us. We've written letters and contacted people. We talk to our Grandson a lot about what happened, and how Auntie Arwen can ride trains when people are smart about it and want to include her. If she wants to try to ride the train this year, we'd support that, too. But most of all, we want Arwens' Voice. Thank you. Jo Anne Bird