Jack and Irene finished nailing the final board that made the new ramp to the guest-house that Angela once lived in. It was hard for people like Shawn and Kassidy to find jobs. With little accessibility and few business owners with open minds, the options were limited. Their newly married daughter and son-in-law would live with them. They would do odd jobs to buy their own groceries and such.

"I wish people would give them a fair chance," Irene complained. "I know that Shawn and Kassidy would work hard if given the chance. They are good people."

"This world is not fair, Irene," Jack replied. "You and I know that better than anyone. Why should our children have it any easier?"

"Change is supposed to make things better, Jack," Irene retorted. "With all this new technology we have now, you'd think they could find a way for the disabled to live better lives and be able to do many things that you and I can do. Kassidy's legs don't work. Her brain works. Her hands work. The rest of her works."

Jack sighed. "We see that because we raised her," he said. "They only see a poor little girl who can't walk. They don't see the bright, intelligent, and willing woman we see."

Deep down, Irene knew that Jack was right. All people saw was a pathetic woman who could not use her legs. Kassidy had taught herself well, making sure that she was as unlimited as possible. But, the people that were building things were not thinking of those like her at all. There were stairs everywhere that she had to be carried up, wheelchair and all, and some places she could not even get into.

Jack and Irene felt sadness for this. They knew that Kassidy could do so much if given the chance. The decade was fading fast and they could only hope that new decade, the 1960's, would be better. They hoped that there would be changes that would allow their daughter and son-in-law to live full, productive, and independent lives.

Were their hopes too high?

END

Author's Notes:

Events of the 1950's

In the 1950's America was the center of covert and overt conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States. Their varying collusion with national, populist, and elitist interests destabilized the region. The United States CIA orchestrated the overthrow of the Guatemalan government in 1954. In 1958 the military dictatorship of Venezuela was overthrown. This continued a pattern of regional revolution and warfare making extensive use of ground forces.

In 1957, Dr. François Duvalier came to power in an election in Haiti. He later declared himself president for life, and ruled until his death in 1971.

In 1959, Alaska (3 January) and Hawaii (21 August) becomes in new states of United States.

Albert Einstein died April 18, 1955, at age 76. Tissues from his brain were distributed among scientists around the world. It has been commonly believed that his brain was different than "normal" brains and the reason for his genius.

In 1959 Fidel Castro overthrew the regime of Fulgencio Batista in Cuba, establishing a communist government in the country. Although Castro initially sought aid from the US, he was rebuffed and later turned to the Soviet Union.

Brasília was built in 41 months, from 1956, and on April 21, 1960, became the capital of Brazil.

On 18 January 1951 Mount Lamington erupted in Papua New Guinea, killing 3,000 people.

On 31 January 1953 the North Sea flood of 1953 killed 1,835 people in the southwestern Netherlands and 307 in the United Kingdom.

On 11 October 1954 Hurricane Hazel crossed over Haiti, killing 1,000.

On 19 August 1955 Hurricane Diane hit the northeastern United States, killing over 200 people, and causing over $1 billion in damage.

On 27 June 1957 Hurricane Audrey demolished Cameron, Louisiana, US, killing 400 people.

On 2 December 1959, Malpasset Dam in southern France collapsed and water flowed over the town of Frejus, killing 412.

On 12 March 1950 an Avro Tudor plane carrying a rugby team crashed in Wales, killing 80 people.

On 10 January 1954 BOAC Flight 781, a new de Havilland Comet jetliner, disintegrated in mid-air due to structural failure and crashed off the Italian coast, killing all 35 on board.

On 30 June 1956 a United Airlines DC-7 and a Trans World Airlines Lockheed Constellation collided above the Grand Canyon in Arizona, killing all 128 people on board both aircraft.

On 25 July 1956 the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria collided with the Swedish ocean liner MS Stockholm off the Nantucket, Massachusetts coastline. 51 people were killed and the Andrea Doria sank the next morning.

On 21 April 1958, a mid-air collision between United Airlines Flight 736 and a USAF fighter jet killed 49 people.

On 14 August 1958, a KLM Lockheed Super Constellation crashed off the coast of Ireland, killing all 99 people aboard.

Charles H. Townes builds the Maser in 1953 at the Columbia University.

The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth on October 4, 1957.

The United States conducts its first hydrogen bomb explosion test.

Passenger jets enter service.

The U.S uses Federal prisons, mental institutions, and pharmilogical testing volunteers to test drugs like LSD and chlorpromazine. Also started experimenting with the transorbital lobotomy.

Francis Crick and James Watson discover the double-helix structure of DNA.

An immunization vaccine is produced for polio.

The first successful ultrasound test of the heart activity.

President Harry S. Truman inaugurated transcontinental television service on September 4, 1951 when he made a speech to the nation. AT&T carried his address from San Francisco and it was viewed from the west coast to the east coast at the same time.

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