--Back when we were talking about classism there was an article on page 179 about financial aid policy issues for students with disabilities, and I feel like it speaks to the misconception surrounding people with disabilities (PWD) abusing the system. If you didn’t read it, it is a quickie.
Disability quotes :
1)"The most striking fact about the disabled population is that it is the most inclusive. I will never be black, and I will never be a woman, but I could become disabled on the drive home tonight."
- George Will
2) Play write Neil Marcus (A PWD) once said: “DISABILITY IS NOT A 'BRAVE STRUGGLE' OR ‘COURAGE IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY’. DISABILITY IS AN ART. IT’S AN INGENIOUS WAY TO LIVE.”
3) "I decided after 41 years of battling this curse that attacks children of all ages (Muscular Dystorphy), I would put myself in that chair, that steel imprisonment that long has been deemed the dystrophic child's plight. . . . I realize my life is half, so I must learn to do things halfway. I just have to learn to try to be good at being half a person."
From "What if I had Muscular Dystrophy?" Parade magazine, Sept. 2, 1990
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This is my response to Jerry Lewis, written after becoming a PWD and hearing the quote again this past summer. You may want to listen to this song cuz it’s mentioned: Gloria Gaynor I will Survive http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBR2G-iI3-I
I remember watching the in the MDA telethon when I was about eight years old. I was moved to tears by Gloria Gaynor singing I will survive while a montage of poor little crippled kids flashed across the TV screen. I was so moved and motivated to make a difference that I decorated a coffee can and dumped all my piggy bank savings into it and hit the streets.
I knocked on my neighbor's doors asking for donations, asked my mom to take me to the grocery store where I pan-handled in the parking lot and I even asked motorists for donations at the red light for the entrance of my subdivision. I ended up collecting somewhere around $500, and I had my mother drive me to the local affiliate television station broadcasting the telethon to drop off the money I collected. I remember being interviewed by a recognizable TV news anchor (who I greatly admired and wanted to grow up to be), and I remember being patted on the head and told that I was an inspiration.
That was a proud moment for me because I knew that I could make a difference in someone's life who was far less fortunate than me. But, I always wondered why I felt so empty and hollow as I poured the contents of my coffee can into a giant barrel of money that other people had collected. The more I read about and talked to other people with disabilities about telethons and how they impact the way our culture sees disability, I'm transported back to that moment when I poured all of my hope for a better tomorrow in the form of pennies, nickels, and dimes into a patronizing pit of pity.
As an adult it's very clear to me how the language that Jerry Lewis uses to elicit a response in the able-bodied population, could have a negative impact on the lives of the people he attempts to help. Back when I collected the money I was an able-bodied eight year old and aside from the disappointment of having a pat on the head for a job well done from someone I looked up to I didn't think much about it until almost 20 years later when I was diagnosed with RA. I could not get the images of those poor little crippled kids out of my mind, and I will survive was on a constant loop in my head. Along with the idea that Jerry had planted, that from then on I would be half a person living half a life. Because I could also hear Jerry’s voice saying “I just have to learn to try to be good at being half a person."
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Great resource by Mom of child with disab. http://www.disabilityisnatural.com/
Love Rolls On: Disability and Marriage- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lQX_irgy7A
Artists with Disabilities Oral History Project -http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/projects/artistsdis/
Carol I must say that this week I have been inspired by all the things that 'pisses you off'. I've been thinking that out of all the subjects we've been talking about this semester (racism, sexism, transgenderism, heterosexism, and other isms) ableism is the one that is the most striking and penetrating to me. It's easier for us, as people, to get over race issues, gender issues, homophobia issues, etc., but it's something about having a disability that people can't seem to wrap their head around, even me. You can semi-change the other isms (you can bleach you skin to look lighter or get a tan to look darker, you can have surgery and change your gender, you can decide whether or not you want to be 'straight' or not) but you can't change having a disability. And the difference between the other isms and ableism is that you can change your appearance on the outside, but with ableism you can not, which is scary. People, at least in America, like to have control and if they can't control how they look then they have a problem with that.
ReplyDeleteBut I just wanted to say that keep doing what you are doing and keep getting 'pissed off' because sometimes that is what it takes to change people minds about certain issues. We can't be too nice about everything then people wont take us seriously but when we're angry about something then people want to open up their ears and listen.