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Disabled man says Udin hurled insults on Election Day
Wednesday, November 15, 2000 By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Eugene Hutchison, a 46-year-old Hill District resident, uses a wheelchair because his right leg was amputated in June.
He claims city Councilman Sala Udin verbally insulted and humiliated him on the morning of Nov. 7, Election Day, by rejecting Hutchison's offer to be a volunteer in a crowded Democratic get-out-the-vote office on Fifth Avenue.
Hutchison, in an interview yesterday, said Udin had told him, "I don't need people in wheelchairs. I need people with legs who can walk up and down steps [of houses] and up and down streets" handing out campaign literature.
"He said it twice" -- in a loud voice and with a lot of people nearby, said Hutchison, who lives on Milwaukee Street in Schenley Heights. "I didn't know what to say. I felt humiliated. He shouldn't treat handicapped people that way."
Hutchison first made his complaint on the local city cable television channel, during a telecast of council's meeting on Monday.
Hutchison's cousin, Raymond Robinson, 49, also of the Hill, took Hutchison to the campaign office that day and backed up Hutchison's story.
"We were disgusted," Robinson said. "We left rather than stay and get into an altercation." Also present that day was Robinson's son, Allen Austin, 27.
Udin recalled seeing Hutchison on the morning of Election Day but denied ever yelling at, insulting or demeaning him.
"I have been working with the disabled community for a long time and would never address him in such a callous fashion," Udin said.
"It was Election Day. I was busy. Things were chaotic. We had 150 volunteers there," Udin said.
"My concern was I didn't want to put him at any risk of further injury by assigning him to something that might have been dangerous," such as riding in a wheelchair on busy streets.
Udin said he was willing to give Hutchison other things to do inside the campaign office, but Hutchison said there was no way he was going to stay after being insulted.
"We appreciated him coming forward and volunteering," Udin said. "I sent apologies to him."
Hutchison said he wanted more than a mere apology. He said he doesn't want to be looked at as someone in a wheelchair, but as someone who, like anyone else, can make a meaningful contribution to society.
He said he lost his leg to high blood pressure and circulatory problems brought on by kidney failure in 1991. His health problems were exacerbated by an auto accident and a fall on the basketball court in 1998, leading to gangrene setting in, forcing the amputation in June. He said he is learning to walk with an artificial leg.
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