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Lead Up to the March - Please Sign This Petition!

10/27/2014

1 Comment

 
Remember my blog post, Disability Poverty: Modernize Thoughts and Actions, Not Just Benefits! where I wrote my thoughts on disability unemployment? In the final paragraph, I said this:

"My people with disabilities, it's time for us to rise up! We need to rise up in nonviolent revolution for jobs and dignity, just like Dr. King was planning when he was assassinated. We should do marches, protests and sit-ins, just like the Freedom Fighters did for Black people because otherwise, nothing will change. Yes, voting is of the utmost importance, but that is only one tool in our toolbox, besides, politicians will promise the moon to get your vote, then, give you nothing when they get elected - then, it's another two, four, or six years before they're out. Besides, with the new voting laws, it's becoming more difficult to vote if you aren't part of the dominant culture, belong to the wrong political party, or don't have government issued identification. Because we are poor and perceived to be powerless, direct action and nonviolent civil disobedience are our most powerful tools and the only thing the powers that be will pay attention to when you don't have money. We should not be afraid because we'll be doing this not just for ourselves, but for those who cannot do it and those who will come after us. Never forget that our great nation was founded on protest, and that protest was the only way that many of us get our civil rights. Having a job is not a privilege, having a job, if you are able to work, is a right and a responsibility. We must fight for that right and responsibility because nobody is going to give it to us!"

Well, folks, this upcoming March is part of the answer to that call to action, and the petition is the opening salvo.

On October 14, 2015, thousands of people with disabilities and fellow supporters are scheduled to march on our Nation's Capitol to demand Equal Employment Opportunities for EVERYONE! This petition states our demands. Please read it and share it!

I will post more about the March in later blogs. I will say this: I am one of the core organizers of it, and I am SO excited! Our organizers wrote the petition and the demands, so please take a moment to sign and share. Thanks so much!

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Suicide is Awful - Unless You're Disabled

10/8/2014

17 Comments

 
I'm sure many of you by now have heard the story of the young lady, Brittany Maynard, who has decided to commit suicide on November 1st, because she has a malignant brain tumor. Many folks are applauding her for this, saying how brave she is.

With all due respect to this woman and her family - I call BS! I'm not judging her, but all of the hypocrisy in this.

Suicide is a deeply personal thing; those who do it or consider it are going through some heavy stuff in their lives, so I can't judge.

I can be angry, though, and I am deeply angry about this. Why? Because if this woman didn't have a medical condition, we would be begging her not to do it. In some states, she'd already be involuntarily committed to get her some treatment. But, because she has a tumor, she is considered brave for doing what she plans to do.

I am sick and tired of suicide being romanticized for people with disabilities, yet villified for nondisabled folks. You can't have it both ways. Suicide is a tragedy no matter who does it. It affects everyone around the person who took his or her life - family, friends, loved ones and the community around that person.

Why is it that disabled folks are considered brave for killing ourselves? It all goes back to the societal attitude of better dead than disabled or better dead than to have THAT condition. People see those of us with disabilities as useless and worthless. We are presumed incompetent and our abilities, indeed, everything we do, including the act of living, is called into question.

We humans tend to fear and hate what we don't understand, and disability is no exception. It's why our community is treated the way it is. Sure, many people will say that they support us, but I look at how we are treated by those who have the real power - those who make the laws, rules, policies and systems that govern our lives.  I notice that laws designed to protect our civil rights are weak and ineffective, at best. I notice how difficult it is for us to get the health care, particularly the mental health care that we need, especially if we have severe disabilities. I notice how people grumble about how much money we cost, yet, will do everything in their power to keep us out of the workplace.

So, it's no wonder to me why society doesn't mind if we die out. Heck, if they can't do it by abortions and cures, then they can do it by killing us by euthanasia or by allowing, or coercing us to kill ourselves via this death with dignity farce.

What Brittany Maynard plans to do is tragic enough, but it is all the more tragic to the disability community because it is subtle coersion telling us that we not only have the right, but the duty to die. That's what its all leading to - these physician assisted suicide laws and the belief that people with disabilities who take their own lives are heroes - it is leading us down the path to the day when we won't have a choice - we'll have laws on the books requiring us to die - unless we can stop this notion that us killing ourselves is an act of bravery, selflessness or heroism. To get to that, we have to abolish the world view that it's better to be dead than disabled.

Suicide is a horrible, awful tragedy no matter who you are.

17 Comments

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