Portland State Magazine Spring 2008

The young vet marched into the professor's office and shouted that he would never be able to achieve his dream; he'd gone out into the world and come back disabled. ONE NIGHT, Pimentel and Honeyman went our for a mid– night snack at the Pancake House, one of their favorite spots. The regular waitress had been replaced by one they'd never mer. "This waitress had never seen Arr or anyone like him; she just stared," Pimentel recalls. "Finally, she said, 'I can't believe that something like you would come someplace where people are trying to ear. I won't serve you because I don't even know if you're a human being.' "And she ended by saying, 'I thought people like you were supposed to die at birth.' "I was stunned; I didn't know what to say. And Arr turned to me and said, 'Why is the waitress talking about you this way? I don't think you look any worse than you usually do."' By sunrise, the two were in jail under rhe "Ugly Law," which until the mid- l 970s allowed the arrest of anyone in public who was considered so "maimed, mutilated or diseased" that their appearance was upset– ting. "Ac one rime I wanted ro be che youngest corporate vice president in America," Pimentel says. "Bur with that incident I became intolerant of discrimination." Pimentel approached Leonard Cain, professor of sociology. "I asked him, how do I fix this? Dr. Cain said, 'You can mobilize the dis– ability community, bur only if they know they are a community.' "Ar that point I switched from debate ro sociology." As a sociology class proj– ect, Pimentel asked US Bank and Tektronix ifhe could train supervisors on disabil– ity issues to see if it would affect employment rares ers as well as workers. Government agencies and Fortune 500 companies acknowledged Pimentel's program as a breakthrough for disabled people in the workplace. BY THE MID - l 980s, Pimentel found himself in the middle of a new kind of civil rights movement, and he had the ear of national figures, including Clarence Thomas, then chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Pimentel became an important spokesman for disabled work– ers, and years later, for people living with AIDS. He was able to motivate people on every side of the debate, building a network rhar included the abled and the disabled, as well as liberal and conservative political figures. When the Americans with Disabilities Act-the Emancipa– tion Proclamation for the disabled community-was signed into law in 1990, Pimentel was publically thanked by the chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for educating employers on disability issues. Passage of rhe Act was a huge vicrory, Pimentel says, bur now he's seeing his life's work come full circle: disabled veterans are again his number one priority. Thousands are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with even more severe disabilities than Vietnam veterans experienced. He is designing a fresh training program for rhe employers of this new generation of disabled veterans. "The movie is really important in drawing attention back to the issues right now for the young men and women returning from war," Pimentel says. "Bur if one thing has become perfectly clear ro me, it's that my life story was nor abour me at all. Ir was about the people who tried ro help me along the way-and to some degree, rhe ones who tried ro harm me as well." ■ for disabled people. Ir did, significantly. Pimentel rook his training program on the road, spending a decade crav– eli ng coasr-ro-coasr educating tens of thousands of manag- At the Portland premier of Music Within, actor Michael Sheen (top, left) talks with Art Honeyman, whom he depicts. Richard Pimentel (bottom, center) gets a chance to discuss the movie with its star, Ron Livingston (right), and producer Brett Donowho. Lisa Loving is a Portlandfreelance writer and community radio host. 16 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE SPRING 2008