By JUN MEDINA
WASHINGTON — When President Obama unveiled Monday a package of measures to help Americans with disabilities, one of the appreciative beneficiaries in attendance was Filipino American Jessica Cox of Tucson Arizona.
In that White House event marking the passage of the landmark American with Disabilities Act (ADA) 20 years ago, Obama reiterated his administration’s commitment to leading by example in hiring people with disabilities through focused efforts to recruit, retain, and support these public servants.
Cox, who travels across the nation giving motivational talks, was with a small group of persons with disabilities invited to the White House by the President.
In a phone interview, Cox said she’s delighted not only to see Mr. Obama in person but also to have a picture taken with the President. She promised to give Fil-Am Star a copy of the picture as soon a she gets it.
“He said, ‘Thank you for being and inspiration.’ And I said, it’s an honor meeting you, Mr. President,” Jessica said.
“In reality, for me to be able to drive, to fly a plane when I really wanted to, just hop into an airplane with my sports pilot certificate and to be able to have that, I realized the ADA has an effect,” Cox added.
Cox also works as a motivational speaker. Immediately after her White House audience with the President, Jessica was off to catch a big air show in Wisconsin after meeting with President Obama.
Jessica was to give presentations and meet celebrities like Harrison Ford and Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and John Travolta, whose first airplane he ever owned was an Air Coupe, similar to the plane she flies.
Through he many achievements and inspirational talks, Jessica has become the face of the millions of people worldwide with disabilities who struggled — and succeeded — to find a meaningful place in society.
The daughter of Filipina nurse and an American band teacher, Jessica not only overcame her physical disability — she was born without arm — but also become an inspiration to people around the world in general.
With the help of a supportive family and community, Jessica lives a normal life using her feet the way other people use their hands.
““I live a normal life using my feet the way other people use their hands,” says Jessica. “I drive with my feet. I was the first person without arms to get a black-belt in the American Tae Kwon-Do Association and the first pilot in aviation history to fly with her feet.”
She says with conviction that it how people react to certain issues and challenges that have a greater impact on their lives than their physical constraints.
And as a motivational speaker, Jessica shares entertaining stories of struggles and success and provides a “unique and personal insight on how best to approach a challenge and attempt to redefine the concept of possibility.
“I always try to help people reconnect with their own inner strength and aptitude,” she says.
During a visit to the Philippines last year, she had a hectic schedule giving talks before various audiences to motivate and inspire people with disabilities in her mother’s homeland, where she was received warmly.
President Obama observed that in the United States, one in six or about 54 million people suffer from some kind of disability.
Despite the high numbers, the ADA still faced stiff opposition in Congress 20 years ago.
Said the President: “It grew when you realized you were not alone, it became a massive wave of bottom-up change that swept across the country as you refused to accept the world as it was and when you were told don’t try, you can’t, you responded with that age-old American creed, ‘yes we can!’ “
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