December 8, 2001

Senator James Pate Phillip
50 E. Oak Street
Suite 250
Addison, IL 60101

Dear Senator Phillips:

Thank you for your letter of November 19th. regarding the charge against Walgreen's in Hanover Park accessibility.

Since your letter telling me the IL. Disabilities Bureau decision I have been trying to talk to them with no avail, Yes, we are questioning how they have arrived at the decision this Walgreen's is accessible if they did not have someone using a wheel chair, walker, automatic cart or cane. The law reads "no barriers."

Being our IL. Senator, I had hoped you would have wrote to me setting up a meeting with all of us from the MS Ill. Advocate fighting for our ADA rights for accessibility.

Please let us know if you asked for the inspector's name and how this person arrived at their decision. Senator Phillip, you represent all the residents of IL., which means people with disabilities.

I guess sending you copies of the pictures and the letters to the Atty. General's office means nothing to you, if they did you would have made time to set up a meeting with us. The reason you didn't, Senator Phillips, you thought by calling the Atty. Gen. Office and then writing me you completed your obligation. You are not off the hook. You didn't do your job as President of the IL. Senate. There are 45,000 persons with disabilities throughout the US. They come from diseases, accidents, and veterans. This will never change, Senator Phillips, in fact it increases everyday.

There are two important documents that protect us, the Constitution and the ADA Law. These two documents state that we the people of this US, with disabilities, have rights to access buildings and work. We can't do these things if accessibility is not enforced correctly.

The constant questions we have been asking is why aren't people with disabilities part of the inspectors? We know what we need. No person without disabilities know what we need no matter how well they are trained. They don't live it everyday. We also need our own board to see the present laws are enforced correctly. We need to be able to tell the citizens of IL. not to be afraid of us because we are using an appliance. Not to be afraid that we represent something that may happen to them.

Senator Phillips, only God knows when we are going to join him but until then we have the right to live the life we have and we want to live it just like every healthy person. We want to be able to go to restaurants, theaters, shopping and help the economy by spending money.

Senator Phillips there is a movement nationwide by people with disabilities. The MS Society in the November issue was about the work force and difficult issues we face everyday. They also mentioned the West Wing TV show. The cooperate offices of the MS Society are in NY. The Actors Guild of California is putting together their push for actors with disabilities to be able to work. We are pushing from IL. We are somehow, someway going to join up. Once this is done we will be heard about our rights as citizens of the US. We are going to prove that the so-called people in charge of our lives haven't got one idea what we need and how to enforce it.

We are also going to watch all the elected persons in office and the ones running for office, their positions on the ADA law and what they are going to do to make us feel like citizens of the US. We know of two right now that are failing very badly and more maybe joining them. People with disabilities are able to vote and we are going to be heard. You are not going to put us in a corner and forget we are here. Those days are gone forever.

By the way stop putting good money into bad for education. Unless you can bring us up to the upper five in worldwide ratings and figure out how to educate the children that they want to learn, stop taking our money. Have a question, why is the US fifteen in the ratings worldwide? We are the US. The foreign countries with less then we have and teachers being paid less are in the upper five. You have people that are suppose to know how to teach our children and then you tell us that persons without disabilities know what we need. Look at this picture, the elected officials have failed the educational system and the enforcement of the ADA laws. Stop taking care of foreign countries with our money and take care of our needs first.

Cordially,



Rosemarie A Botthof
460 Eagle Dr Apt 106
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007

CC:MS IL Group
     Others