When Sue Thomas was in school, she earned D's and F's and was labeled a dummy. The problem, she explains, was that she could "read every question" on the lips of her teachers, but could never hear the answers provided by classmates.

Profoundly deaf since she was a toddler, Thomas persevered. Her ice skating talent won her a national trophy at age 7, her typing proficiency won the admiration of her high school typing teacher and her amazing ability to read lips took her out of a somewhat menial job to that of undercover agent for the FBI.

Inspires involvement

Today, Thomas serves as consultant for the TV series based on her experiences, Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye, which recently completed its first year on the PAX television network.

But her challenges have by no means diminished. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, she now has some difficulty with walking and balance, and vision limited sufficiently to render her driving license useless. Far from quitting, however, the former FBI agent now travels the country speaking about her experiences and the payoffs of persistence.

Thomas, and other role models with disabilities were featured speakers at a "Town Hall meeting" held Monday at the State House atrium in Columbus. One of several such meetings being conducted around the country by Enable America, a nonprofit organization based in Tampa, Fla., the events aim to inspire citizens with disabilities to become more fully involved participants in community and civic activities.

"The fact that 73 percent of people with disabilities are unemployed is appalling," said Richard Salem, an attorney with a disability and co-founder of Enable America. With empowerment, he believes, such statistics can be changed, and citizens with disabilities can participate in their communities on an equal basis with nondisabled peers.

One key ingredient to claiming that empowerment, speakers stressed, is the American right to vote.

The number of Americans with disabilities registered to vote is 20 percent lower than the national average.

Voting is discriminatory

For years, that has been due, in part, to the inaccessibility of polling places - doors too narrow for wheelchairs, stairs, workers unable to communicate with deaf voters and ballots that cannot be read by voters with visual impairments.

Passage of the Help America Vote Act should bring considerable changes to such discriminatory practices. Accessible voting machines and polling places should be in place across the nation by the November 2004 elections, and Enable America is urging people with disabilities to register and familiarize themselves with such changes.

If a polling place isn't accessible, advises Mark Seifert, legislative affairs director for the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission, "the poll workers have to, by law, come out to your car and allow you to vote right there. It's not preferable, certainly, but a much better solution than throwing away your right to vote."

It's an old song maybe, but one with a new arrangement and definite energy.

To be involved in public policy in America affecting them, people with disabilities need to empower themselves, interact with elected officials, exercise the right to vote, participate in civic activities and work to eliminate the appalling unemployment rate.

It's the kind of political intensity that has earned positive results for other minorities and, if the energy uniting the crowd Monday is any indication, Enable America is on the right track.

Information: www.EnableAmerica.org.

Contact Deborah Kendrick by phone: 673-4474; fax: 321-6430; e-mail: dkkendrick@earthlink.net.