The Importance of Being an Active Observer in Other Cultures
For John A. Lancaster, a gunshot wound in the Vietnam War changed the trajectory of his life. After spending more than a year in recovery and intense physical therapy, he ended up back in his parents’ house, now modified to be accessible by a wheelchair. His early experiences with struggling with accessibility in public transport and public building fueled a budding interest in disability advocacy, but it wasn’t until he was a law student at the University of Notre Dame that he fully realized the intersection of law and disability.
Lancaster spent his career heading different disability advocacy coalitions for the United States, watching as the country slowly introduced legislation reform that resonated around the world, culminating in the Americans with Disability Act of 1990 that would go on to heavily influence the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
As a part of his career, he advocated for accessibility and disability advocacy worldwide as he attempted to translate American progress in disability advocacy to countries that were further behind.
One of the most memorable countries he forged a relationship with was Vietnam. Lancaster reminisced on his time as a disability advocate in Vietnam, saying his perspective gradually shifted from viewing the country as a warzone to viewing it as a friendly country that was inhabited by many dear friends and colleagues.
The Importance of Actively Listening
Lancaster views the United States as a leader in disability legislation, one that can teach many countries with budding disability advocacy movements how to slowly adapt society to become more accessible and equitable in the long run.
The most important part of helping a country develop a robust disability advocacy network?
Lancaster presses the important of actively listening and observing the culture of the country in question. He points to an example in Vietnam; at first, he thought the process that a group of citizens would get the government’s attention was nonexistent and too subtle when compared to the violent and impassioned protests he was used to in the US. Over time, however, he realized that in the Vietnamese culture, the subtle methods of gathering in parks and bringing key government official to come observe worked just as well to spur lasting government action.
This tangible difference in culture taught him a valuable lesson that he would carry through the rest of his career: just because a movement for disability advocacy worked in the US, it could not simply be translated to another culture without modifications.
Disability movements cannot be copy and pasted from one country to another.
At the end of the day, Lancaster points to the necessity of sitting back, listening, and observing the nuances of other cultures. Only then could he work from a perspective that wasn’t strictly American to aid the country’s disability advocates in any way that they needed.
His own experiences in foreign countries were aided by local disability advocates that would often explain what would work best within the dimensions of the culture. From those local guides came lifelong friendships and a snapshot of a country.
For the budding disability advocates of the world, remember to always sit back and observe different perspectives before barging in with ideas about legislation or citizen-based movements. At the end of the day, the power of actively listening can greatly assist in the push to spread accessibility for individuals with disabilities to countries across the globe.
Looking for more insight into John A. Lancaster in His Own Words? Watch the Original Podcast Episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEEgsyVlwZQ&t=12s
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