The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 47

Cash on the barrel ay now or pay later that is the question Bank card companies may be working hard to keep us purchasing with plastic but 53 of adult shoppers say rather pay in cash Another 30 prefer to pay by check according to a survey by the Lutheran Brotherhood insurance company The survey found that only 1 6 prefer credit cards A INSIDE OutFront The Carolinas greater mo needs help to survive3E TV People 3E Erma Bombeck 5E Comics 4-5E Movies 6E Ann Landers 5E QQQffi DEAN NEITMANStaff m'l i Ammdi i iilLa gjt'i Thursday July 201995 (the (Charlotte (Observer SECTION Yes a guy is editing Connect Being a pioneer tough but rewarding Wednesday is the fifth anniversary of the signing of the Americans With Disabilities Act which protects the rights of people who are blind or deaf use wheelchairs or have other disabilities Tom Harrison is a data entry specialist who lives in Charlotte Iam a young man with cerebral palsy I get up every morning like the average person get dressed and have breakfast and go to my part-time job After work I return home make myself lunch pay bills work out read and relax Yet in my short 26 years I have had experiences that able-bodied people take for granted they will never face Many of these challenges came before there was major federal legislation to protect the civil rights of people with disabilities including the Americans With Disabilities Act When I was a child I attended the United HARRISON David Boraks is the new editor of Connect He has been an editor on The Observer's regional desk since 1993 and has 15 years' experience as a writer and editor Kathy Haight who had been acting Connect editor will return to her role as Connect writer arely a day after I learned I had been chosen to edit Connect the comments started Friends and colleagues offered handshakes but many help pointing out that the previous Connect editors have all been women And the men in particular were full of jabs about what a male-edited Connect might look like may notice the tiniest male touch here and teased the OutFront Guy Doug Ro-barchek in one of his columns column for example will be about belching The photo essay is about giving your home a new look through nude mud-decorating And a special segment on New Sensitivity Elixir Elsewhere in the office there have been similar expectations: Male colleague No 1: What we need are articles about to buy the best cigars in and a feature about time I really kicked butt playing David: (What could I say? I played along) Yeah like articles about favorite motor oil" and I prefer an AK-47 to an No 1: and then that important article about how hands are actually better designed for doing dishes than hands and how along the evolutionary line it became important for males to conserve as much energy as possible while not at work Male colleague No 2: So you gonna get some more testosterone in the section? David: Um (Obviously I was a man in need of a comeback) Male colleague No 3: 1 just wondered if you were over here planning for a more Connect David: Well yes Got any ideas? No 3: Naw as long as it involve dudes sitting around a campfire drums Adding perspective? second that motion true the first man to edit Connect since it began in 1992 But not so sure Connect as I will edit it will live up to these lofty ideals I mean scared to death of guns Motorcycles are off-limits ALPHILLIPSStaff the population under said the professor Larry Bumpass He has been following 1 0000 people since the late 1980s for an ongoing survey of families and households Bumpass has found that 49 of the people ages 35 to 39 in his study are now living with someone without marriage up from 34 in the late 1980s Among people 50 to 54 cohabitation has nearly doubled in the same period Not seen as shocking very dramatic thing is the difference in attitudes in nontraditional family Bumpass said citing data from his survey that showed only a small segment of people disapproved of premarital sex and cohabitation "It is clear to me that the trends we have been observing are very likely to continue with a declining emphasis on In fact living together has replaced marriage for many people 1 in 4 Americans older than 18 has never mamed according to the census data as against 1 in 6 in 1970 For many couples cohabita- Please see Cohabitnext page has moved into her house in Kalamazoo Mich and that is probably how things are going to stay not sure that marriage an said Stech 59 an office manager who began living with FredTremdlay 66 a year and a half ago we figured out why we would do it Clearly we are not starting a family and not planning a 30-year partnership just grateful for what we have in this stage of our lives" Cohabitation climbs 80 What would have been considered scandalous 25 years ago has become an acceptable living arrangement in some quarters The number of couples choosing to live together rather than marry climbed 80 between 1980 and 1991 according to census data And a professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison has found another surprising shift: The greatest increase in couples who share homes but not legal documents is among people older than 35 once widely disap-proved-of behavior is now half the population under age 40 and in 10 years it will be half i I rt I 4 fe-J V-icr i hd vAJ More couples are living together without marriage Cerebral Palsy Developmental Center in Charlotte Mothers had to carry their children up two flights of stairs and down another just to reach the classroom When I started school all the students with some form of disability were encapsulated in a few classrooms This gave the students with disabilities a false impression of what the world was like not to mention making us seem strange to the general student body In the fourth grade I was one of the first students to be mainstreamed in Charlotte-Mecklen-burg schools and my new classroom was in a building accessible only by steps This meant that twice or four times a day I was carried up and down the stairs On three occasions I fell out of my wheelchair The third time the school system decided to build a ramp for the building rather than face a lawsuit by my parents Battles continue When I entered junior high and high school it was an uphill battle to get transportation to my chosen schools Long bus rides delays in pickups and bus scheduling negotiations that make the Japanese trade talks look like a picnic were routine At Olympic High School I was the only physically disabled student But other than a few modifications for me I was a typical student I cannot write very fast so a classmate took notes for me I was in a manual chair and students helped me go from class to class I studied computers I was in the Spanish Club the Octagon Club and the DECA Club for business-oriented students Following graduation I was mainstreamed to the twilight zone and five years of unemployment living with my parents Once again 1 was ahead of the 1990 school-to-work transition legislation (the revised Individuals With Disabilities Education Act) that would have required the schools to help me find my home and job Two years ago a space became available at the Carolina Group Homes (not the bachelor pad I envisioned but a start) My roommates told me about Supported Employment Training Inc a nonprofit agency that finds jobs for people with disabilities I now work there as a data entry specialist It has been a mixed blessing to be at the cutting edge of all these changes Being a pioneer is hard but at least you know that those who follow will not meet the same barriers Before we debate the costs of the ADA and whether to rescind the law remember that people like me have forged through obstacles 1 hoped others would not have to face By JENNIFER STEINHAUER New York Times fter a 22-year marriage that ended in divorce Cynthia Stech says she has figured out how to manage love Her new romantic interest Please see Boraksnextpage MOVIES Comic treats high schoolers with class Review LAWRENCE TOPPMAN a good thing Amy Heckerling get out of high school She broke into the directing business with Times at Ridgemont a gritty tragicomic look at California teens in the Thirteen years later in the chair for a gently zany comedy that will catch open-minded viewers by surprise This may be the first movie of the year better than its trailer Previews made it seem like a boneheaded romp in which Valley Girls modeled short skirts skipped through life saying "as and chatted with each other across school halls on cellular phones all those things (in a more imaginative way than you might think) but also an all-embracing comedy that makes fun of rigid parents uptight teachers and frivolous teens yet shows a fondness for all of them The tone is set right off as Cher (Alicia Silver-stone) and her best friend (Stacey Dash) ride to Beverly Hills High and I are both named for famous singers of the past who now make a living doing she chirps in her self-mocking narration Soon quoting Shakespeare in a note to a teacher you write asks awed Dionne Cher replies like a famous quote" Please see Cluelessnext page Devil without a cause: A mischievous high schooler (Alicia Silverstone left) and her best friend (Stacey Dash) try to find ways to do good deeds in.