President Jimmy Carter

1/12/2015

The Honorable Jimmy Carter

Office of Jimmy Carter

The Carter Center

One Copenhill

453 Freedom Parkway, NE

Atlanta, GA 30307

Dear President Carter,

My name is Matthew Winick from Ann Arbor, Michigan and I wanted to send my story about working hard on my disability and how you inspire me to work on my goals. Also your work on improving Civil Rights to protect people from discrimination and advocating for people to have human rights really helps give me confidence that there can be a better future for people who suffer from discrimination and people with disabilities like me. President Carter, I have Autism with a learning disability. Having a disability is hard for me because I have trouble comprehending on learning new subjects, it takes me long time to complete a certain task, and sometimes I get teased about my disability.  I have a strong interest in studying history and government.  In history including government I like to study how famous people including different U.S. Presidents like you work hard to have great achievements or use their ideas to make a world a better place.   When I study history it helps me feel motivated to work hard when times are hard for me to comprehend and understand the need for ideas to make a future a better place like advance on Civil Rights to end discrimination for people who are different, protect the environment by using renewable energy with environment protection, the need for human rights and peace negotiations to reduce tension with different countries, and many others.

President Carter, I was able to understand and able to comprehend when I visited the Jimmy Carter Presidential Museum in Atlanta, Georgia. The museum had great technology, which helped me comprehend when visiting different exhibits like subtitles including close captioning when watching videos of your speeches, audio technology helped me when reading different exhibits by reading it back to me, and using touch screens which helped me process different details.  Your museum really made a great difference for me because it really helped me with Autism and a learning disability to comprehend on understanding the exhibits and learning more about your work as President.  I really like your achievements like the Panama Canal Treaty which gave back the canal to them which helped avoid conflict with them and Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty which ended the war between both of them by allowing Egypt to have the Sinai Territory along with the treaty it became the first Middle East peace.  These achievements by working with these countries by negotiating really made a great difference for history and the world by reducing tensions. Your domestic achievements gave me confidence to feel proud that you cared about the country. I liked your goals to heal the country. For example you pardon Vietnam War draft resisters to give the American people confidence and that the Vietnam War was over. Also when you were President I was amazed when you improve Civil Rights by appointing women and minorities to government position including judicial system. I was amazed about your environmental record to protect Alaska Wilderness by the Federal Government through Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act and a Superfund Bill to clean toxic chemicals, which were dumped or accidentally released by industries.  Another thing I liked about your presidency was that you advocated for renewable energy like solar, wind, biofuel, and energy efficient products to reduce our dependence on foreign oil including oil and gas.

President Carter, from my strong interest in history perspective with Autism including a learning disability you really made a great difference in history, in our country, and the world by supporting Civil Rights to protect people who are different from being discriminated, work with other countries by working on negotiations to reduce tensions or getting risk to have a war, protecting the environment from toxic chemicals or pollution, advocating for renewable energy with alternative energy as an energy source to reduce our addiction to oil and gas, advancing on Civil Rights to end discrimination, and emphasizing the need for human rights to give people an equal opportunity.  I am proud to call you a great president and one of my favorite presidents of America.  I hope you get a chance to read my story about my struggle with a disability and my goals for history. My story is my gift for you for your 90^th birthday. I’m also proud of putting you in my story as an influential person who makes a great difference. Please feel free to share you story with Ms. Rosalynn Carter.

Sincerely,

Matthew B. Winick