I’ve been a fiery activist for causes that I believe in, primarily the rights of people with disabilities, since before I knew what an “activist” was. I was in grade school the first time I exercised my power as an activist. The administration had casually suggested canceling a traditional field trip that all the students were looking forward to because of the extra expense of renting a wheelchair accessible van for me–the one and only physically disabled student who used a wheelchair due to a condition called Osteogenesis Imperfecta. With all the force of my fragile, 20-pound, foot and a half long body could muster, I let the administration know that if they canceled our field trip that I would tell all the local newspapers that they were being “mean!” Needless to say, my class went on our field trip and the administration never made another foolish suggestion like that again.