Thursday, February 18, 2010

HERE'S WHAT I REALLY THINK (brace yourself)

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You know the problem with having a disability?

The real issue with having a special need?

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Yeah, inaccessible buildings, inaccessible minds, inaccessible public spaces ... yeah that's freaking annoying.

Yeah, dealing with the day to day ignorance of the public who never knows when help and when to stand idly by ... that's a burr under the saddle.

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But that's not the problem.

SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP
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The real problem is that your freaking voice gets taken from you by non-disabled people and they expound about who you are and the life you live.

Freaking Jerry Lewis.

Freaking Sarah Palin.

Freaking voice stealing media whoring thugs.

SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP

I read that Saint Sarah has now declared herself a voice for the special needs community. Well, it must be one freaking special need if Sarah Palin is the solution. Anyways ... here's what she said ...

"this world to be a more welcoming place for all innocent people, all special needs children. I am going to keep pursuing that in our country until we are a more tolerant, compassionate, welcoming place for the innocents.”

Freaking INNOCENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We're back to being feaking INNOCENTS!!!!!!!!

Where does this woman get off?

Who voted her the VOICE?

She may want to try to speak for PARENTS OF KIDS WITH DISABILITIES ... sorry parents to foist her off on you, but you have the moral authority to take her on, take her down. BUT SHE DOESN'T ... OH TO HELL WITH IT ... SHE DOESN'T FUCKING SPEAK FOR ME. Or any other person with a disability I know. We can, and do, speak for ourselves.

Jerry Lewis blasts stereotypes of disability as disease and as suffering.

Sarah Palin blasts stereotypes of us as INNOCENTS.

Would you all just freaking shut up. Would the media give the microphone to someone in a fucking chair every now and then. Would the media seek out someone with Down Syndrome for a freaking opinion?

SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP

We've got voices.

But the disability seems to be that our freaking voices keep getting drowned out by the voices of those without disabilities.

Sarah Palin.

Enough.

You lost the election.

And no one voted you leader of a cause that is full of heros, full of vigour and fully capable to speak for ourselves.

Enough.

Enough.

Enough.

47 comments:

Stephanie said...

THANK YOU THAN YOU THAN YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!! As the Mom of a terrific child with DS, she is a freaking embarrassment! She trots her family out to try to gain votes or earn money when it pleases her, but God forbid anybody say anything negative about her or her family (not that the DS & "retard" jokes are appropriate at all). She is not even home enough to REALLY know what raising a child with a disability is like!!!! ARGH!!!!!! She needs to go back to where she came from, represent whales or baby seals or something......grrrrrrrrrr!

Steph

rickismom said...

Look, Sarah Palin gets battered about a lotm, and I don't like that. BUT she doesn't speak for me, and if she condones the "R" word when her friends say it, believe me she is not my voice. And Mrs. Pallin, my 15 year old isnot to be pittied or called "innocents".

Shan said...

She might just as well have said "simples".

Glenda Watson Hyatt said...

Amen, David!

Kate said...

Agreed!

Andrea S. said...

Sarah Palin, I'm deaf, I have attention deficit disorder, I have myotonic dystrophy, and I have a foot problem. So I have multiple disabilities. I suppose that must make me one of the people you're thinking of when you presume to speak on my behalf. But, trust me, I do not consider myself an "innocent." I'm not a child. I'm not a helpless, pathetic little creature that needs someone else to speak for me. If you really want to make the world a better place for people with disabilities then you can do it by working WITH us. Not for us, not in front of us, not on behalf of us, but with us in the lead, setting the agenda for disability rights, deciding our own priorities for what we need, and above all--SPEAKING FOR OURSELVES.

Think Sarah Palin is listening?

dill said...

My first visit and first comment. Never, in the history of blogdom, has the word 'fucking' been more appropriately used. I do not approve of, or use, such language. But here, I make an exception, I actually applaud your RESTRAINT.

Laura(southernxyl) said...

Well, what's stopping disabled people from speaking up?

Do you appreciate it when you are told to shut up? Are you trying to disable another person by denying her voice? She's not you, and she's not obligated to agree with you that she's not worthy to speak. Does tolerance, and live-and-let-live, only apply to people with disabilities?

Do you really want her not to care at all? It would make you happy if she didn't give a damn, or never voiced any concerns she had because, as an abled person, it's not her problem?

Aren't you just disapproving of her politics? After all, you still thought Obama was a "good guy" after he equated the Special Olympics with incompetence. Her statement: "You know what the difference is between a hockey mom and a Special Olympics hockey mom? ...Nothing!" got nothing from you.

If she makes one disabled child's life better because of what she says, will you still want her to shut up?

I've been reading you for a while, Dave, and I've learned a lot, but I'm really shocked at the hatred and the venom I see here. Wow.

Kristin said...

Preach on Dave!

Ashley's Mom said...

Amen, Brother, Amen!!

Stephanie said...

OK Dave - I really got to thinking about this last night, and you are right - she doesn't have the right or the responsiblity to speak for EVERYBODY - she lost the election...Anyway, I was on FB last night and was having a very civil discussion on this very thing - happened to be on the Sarah Palin fan page. Guess What?!?! I got banned and all myu posts deleted and everybody who agreed with the fact that she doesn't represent EVERYBODY with a disability!!!!! How's that working for ya Sarah (quoting her last speech)? Nice to know you have no problems throwing out the 1st Ammendment along with alienating about half of the people who would have voted for you.

The good news was that towards the end of the discussion, people who were using the R word and making jokes actually GOT IT! They ended up getting banned to because they spoke up when the rest of us got it.

Rock on Dave!!!!!

Kristin said...

Dave, I put this up for you. I think this post is worthy of a wider audience.

Colleen said...

Dear Dave:

Calling people with disabilities "innocents" is just another way of saying you are not human - human beings are not innocent. It is that kind of thinking that makes people so horribly vulnerable.

I had a brother who had Down Syndrome. One of my other brothers used to say that he was incapable of sin. What utter nonsense!!! He was a very sweet man but I hope he committed some whoppers and had some fun doing it!

Doing the work you do - innocence is not an option but I bet there are days when you wish you didn't know what you do know.

Colleen

Shelly- Mom Files said...

Great freakin post!! I came by way of Kristin. You are the shizzle ;)

Shelly- Mom Files said...

Great freakin post!! I came by way of Kristin. You are the shizzle ;)

Laurie said...

Excellent blog Dave.

Stephanie said...

Laura - Wow! The thing that keeps people with disabilites from speaking up is the backlash they get when they do. It is either ridicule, or dismissal - very rarely anything in between.

The point of this post was that she doesn't represent people with disabilites - She is not disabled. She has no idea what "Disabled" entails. And frankly, she never will - because she is Sarah Palin!

Who do you think is going to tell her that her child can't have therapy or equipment he qualifies for because it is too hard to get? What doctor do you think is going to tell Sarah Palin that he child doesn't qualify for a transplant because they don't like to "waste" organs on people with Down syndrome? Only people intent on committing career suicide.

At $100,000 a pop for speaking engagements, do you really think she is going to understand what it means to have to decide whether to pay the power bill or put gas in your car to get to your childs doctor 300 miles away from your home? Doubt it.

She doesn't represent people with disabilites, and she doesn't represent me or my son. However, she might do well to REALLY concentrate on learning what living with a disability is really like and representing her son. Charity starts at home, and she hasn't been a member of this club long enough to understand the issues and challenges that real people face every day.

Putting herself out there as the lone savior of the disabled was a mistake.

Don't worry - Obama gets his share of ire too. While he didn't self-promote himself as the great white hope of the disability community - the fact is, the whole "f***ing R****ds" comment that started this came about in his house, under his watch, by somebody that he appointed...The really sad part is that his wife was the VP at the children's hospital where we take our son....they have made their way to the White House on the backs of the very people he does not have the courage to stand up and defend.

Stephanie

Anonymous said...

AMEN AMEN AMEN AMEN AMEN AMEN AMEN AMEN AMEN AMEN

Laura(southernxyl) said...

Stephanie, thanks for your response.

Did SP really put herself out there as a lone savior? Or did she just make the mistake of opening her mouth? TWR - Talking While Republican?

As to not ever knowing what disabled means, because she is Sarah Palin - I think you're downplaying the fact that she is Trig's mom, that she gave him life knowing he had DS, which 90% of mothers of unborn babies with DS don't, and that she evidently loves him. Why are you doing that? What is it about SP that causes you to think she isn't an authentic mother of a kid with a disability, and can't have a valid POV?

I'm a conservative person and usually vote Republican. Maybe my politics aren't correct. Also, I'm not disabled and don't have a disabled family member. So perhaps, if I hear someone use the "r" word, I shouldn't rebuke them, but let a disabled person do it. Thereby letting that disabled person see me standing by with my mouth shut, as though I don't care at all - is that right? Or if I go into a business and see that the "accessible" door is blocked, I shouldn't say anything to a manager, but wait and let a frustrated would-be customer in a wheelchair do it. In other words, I need to SHUT UP, per Dave. Is that it?

Dave Hingsburger said...

Laura, I try stay out of the comments so that people can freely say what they want and debate each other - however, I've got to ask ... do you really see me saying that you shouldn't speak up against injustice and against inaccessibility - I thought my point was that someone, without a disability, is claiming to be the 'voice of the special needs community'. I speak out against racist jokes while being white - I just don't pretend to be the 'voice of black Canadians' when I do it. I think there's a difference, but perhaps you don't see it.

Laura(southernxyl) said...

Well, Dave, I see the quote that you have here:

"this world to be a more welcoming place for all innocent people, all special needs children. I am going to keep pursuing that in our country until we are a more tolerant, compassionate, welcoming place for the innocents.”

I don't see SP setting herself up to be the voice of the disabled. I get that you don't like her use of the word "innocents" but what I see is that she says that she will be an advocate for the disabled. Is that really so offensive?

If it were Obama saying this exact thing - if you heard his masculine voice, with his intonations, saying these words, instead of SP - would you be yelling SHUT UP at him?

I guess what confuses me is that there are a lot of people who, unlike me, don't go anywhere except in their little echo chambers where they'll get mirrored back the thought processes they already have. A lot of these people will be listen to SP and go to her fan page (I don't see myself being an actual fan of any politician) and they may hear something that they've never heard before, about disabled people being actual humans who deserve some respect and consideration. I don't understand why this is not a good thing. I don't know why she needs to shut up, if you don't also mean for me to, or anybody else whose - what, politics? Vocabulary? Social stratum? What is it? you don't approve of.

Dave, I usually don't go to people's blogs and argue with them. If they tick me off I just don't go back. I've been reading you for a while and I guess this post must really have shocked me because it seems so out of character. I apologize for the negativity and will go back to lurking.

Anonymous said...

Thank You Dave!!
I have been torn about speaking about SP..The voice of the innocents? Please. I have tempered my feelings about her involvement in speaking out for people with disabilities until I know how she really supports the community. Many loving parents thought that institutions were the best and safest place for their innocent children. Is that SP's opinion. Does she believe in mainstreaming? Does she believe in full employment? Does she believe that people with disabilities have the right to be sexually active and marry?
After growing up with a beautiful sister with DS, I have to say in the range of disabilities DS is not a tough one. A sweet little baby who appears to travel well does not give her a full range of experience that would make her qualified as an expert.
Hey, how about if she waits till Trig grows up and let him be his own voice?
Sunnkistme

Dave Hingsburger said...

Laura, you are free to disagree and comment as much as you like. I NEVER remove comments, I believe in public debate. In answer to your question, if Obama (remember I am a Canadian ... he is YOUR president, not mine) represented himself as the 'voice' of the disabled in any way, I'd say the same. My quote was what she said, her reference to herself as a voice for the special needs community is in several news articles. I stand by what I wrote, I disagree that it was 'hateful' though I do agree that it's tone was angry - I'm ok with anger. I'm not so ok with hate.

Stephanie said...

Laura - If she puts herself out there (or if anybody does) as a voice for the disabled - then she is either the voice or she is not! You don't just get to be "The Mom of a child with DS" when your opposing political party throws out the R word - If you don't have to courage to take a stand to EVERYBODY for using it, don't paint yourself as the poster child for all of those with disabilites! Part of being an advocate is advocating to your friends & family, as well as your opponents. The right thing isn't neccessarily the easy one - or even the carreer saving one.

As for giving Trig life, etc....She shouldn't be given a medal for following through with what she says are her religious beliefs. I am in no way saying that carrying Trig to term was a ploy - I am sure (I hope) that she loves her child, but she would have a damn hard time explaining her Pro-Life stance after terminating a pregnancy because of the child had DS. What about all of the other mothers of children with DS? Aren't they worthy of Palin-esque praise?

My point, and Dave's point was that her reality is NOT that of %99.999 of people with disabilites! It will NEVER be....simply for the fact that she is who she is....She can put herself out there as TRIGS advocate all she wants to,, and should! But if she can't defend her own son against the likes of Rush Limbaugh, why in blue bazes would I entrust her to defend MY son against those who seek to oppress?

I was in the Marine Corps, and if I remember correctly, the PRes & VP take part of the same oath that members of the armed forces take - that would be to defend against ALL enemies - foreign AND DOMESTIC! If she can't, or won't defend her son against her Republican friends, do we REALLY want her in the White House trying to defend us against home grown terrorist cells? She is her own worst enemy.

As for your decision about whether or not to stand up for the disabled, that is your choice as well. We do live in a free country - I would hope that common sense would enter the picture somewhere along the way, but if you feel that you can't, well that is your choice as well.

I too am a registered Republican - but frankly, am embarassed by the whole lot.

Thank you Dave, for allowing the debate to continue....after this morning, I am even more ashamed that SP has glommed on to anything having to do with DS or disability issues. The fact that they deleted even folks who were defending her otherwise, just goes to show that people still don't really get this.

Steph

Unknown said...

Dave, sorry to continue this. I promise I'm not going to keep beating a dead horse here.

I looked up "Palin disabled voice" and all I saw was other people saying she was claiming that she would be a voice, or said she would be a voice, and pointing to her 2008 RNC speech, where she said this:

To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters.

I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House.


No "voice" here. Maybe she has claimed that for herself, but I can't find it.

Stephanie:

"What about all of the other mothers of children with DS? Aren't they worthy of Palin-esque praise?"

Sure, if they knew ahead of time and let their babies live. Of course. And I'll give it to them every time.

"My point, and Dave's point was that her reality is NOT that of %99.999 of people with disabilites!"

Nobody's reality is anybody else's. 99.999% of people aren't publicly flayed and ridiculed every time they open their mouths, and bad constructions put on everything they say.

I don't think she's saying that she has the same experience everybody else has. I think she's saying that she wants to advocate for the disabled, period. Will she do it? I don't know. I'm more impressed by deeds than by words.

I don't get being ashamed of Sarah Palin. Is it that she comes across too middle-class? Too country? Unpolished? Too unapologetically religious? Child had a baby out of wedlock? Flubbed the Couric interview - are you ashamed of her for that? Or what?

As to me having common sense to stand up for what's right - well, I didn't really think Dave was telling me to shut up, except that if Palin should I should too, and I'd hoped he'd think that through. (Guess not.) I'll continue to do as I see fit, of course.

BTW - the Special Olympics was founded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Rosemary Kennedy's sister, who surely had a privileged existence as far as money and social status. Her reality was not that of 99.999% of people. Should she not have put herself out there as an advocate?

Anonymous said...

Maybe I interpret what she said differently. She was referring to children and I do see children as innocent. They haven’t been tainted by any of us. Remember her point of reverence is a baby.

I thought we needed allies in this battle of inaccessibility and intolerance. Has anyone stepped up to educate or even offer to educate her? If they have I haven’t read about it. Maybe if we are to expect respect and kindness we need to offer it.

How powerful would it be to find someone that wants to be a spokes person that has the public’s eyes and ears and educate them in what really needs to be said? Then if they pervert our words “Give them Hell” and expose them for the phony they are.

Gone Fishing said...

I could not have been more wrong
CAIRO (Reuters) - Ancient Egypt's teenage king Tutankhamun was born of an incestuous marriage, scientists said on Wednesday, helping to explain why he limped on a club foot and suffered other deformities and genetic defects.

For years I had guessed that my club feet, short femur and other skeletal deformities were due possibly to my Mother having taken D.E.S. in the late 1940's

D.E.S. I thought had a very similar formulae to Thalidomide

Since I wrote that I have been musing over the number of parents of differently enabled children who have confided in me that they have been almost accused of having abused the child at some stage and that was the reason the child was differently enabled.

I was fortunate that my parents had the sense to isolate me from the well meaning system at a very early age and I have lived an amazing life able to do many impossible things without being too innocent or wrapped in cotton wool.

Danielle said...

I agree, 100%. I am amazed that I originally liked Sarah Palin.

On a much happier note... I don't know if you've seen this already, but I wanted to make sure you did. It sounds like you could use a little beauty and good perspective. :)

http://enjoyingthesmallthings.blogspot.com/2010/01/nella-cordelia-birth-story.html

After that you can read the rest of the blog. There is several other posts after that as well, with several gorgeous pictures. It'll make you feel better, I promise.

http://enjoyingthesmallthings.blogspot.com/

The Untoward Lady said...

@Laura:

Please also consider that Sarah Palin is like a woman with a megaphone shouting next to a person with a pillow over their mouth, the disabled people. Whenever Palin speaks, then, it makes it impossible for anyone to hear what the person next to her with the pillow is trying to say.

It's not that we disabled people don't talk, it's that nobody listens to us when we do and the problem becomes even worse when an able bodied celebrity like Palin enters the fray.

In this way, Palin silences the people who are truly oppressed and who are truly at the centre of this discussion.

Stephanie said...

OK - Here is a link to my thoughts on this issue - after I have had time to think about things. LOL!

http://www.ourlittlemanhasmoore.blogspot.com


Thanks Dave for allowing me to link!

Steph

Laura(southernxyl) said...

Untoward Lady, if the disabled person with the pillow over her face needs attention drawn to her plight, and if as you say no one is listening to her, she might welcome Palin standing next to her with the megaphone.

Do you really think that people who previously were listening to disabled people, won't now, b/c Palin is speaking?

Isn't it possible that many of her supporters will be influenced to be more sensitive to disability issues than they otherwise would have been? Maybe someone will stop using the r-word, b/c she's brought it to his attention that it's offensive. Or not allow herself to be pressured into aborting a child with a chromosomal anomaly or a birth defect even though her doctor says it's what everyone does now.

Regardless, outside completely inappropriate rudeness such as Rahm Emmanuel exhibited, I think it's wrong to tell anybody to shut up. The flip side of not wanting other people to make decisions and run your life for you, is that you have to let other people do their thing too. SP is just as much a person as her kid is. She doesn't act as you or I would, but you've gotta be you, and I've gotta be me, and she's gotta be SP.

Moose said...

OH FRABJABULOUS YES! YES! YES!

We are not made from cookie cutters. One person's disability may have the same name as another's but that doesn't mean that they are identical clones!

Someone I know doesn't understand why I really don't want to go out in public with her anymore. Well, gee, that's because if you perceive some slight against me you declare yourself MY SAVIOUR and run to yell at people to fix the problem! "She can't fit in that chair, get another one now!" "There are steps, where is your elevator!" "Blah blah blah, I WILL FIX YOU!" & if I try to point out that, jumpin jeebus, my mouth ain't broken, I can ask for help IF I THINK I NEED IT she starts yelling at *ME* because she's only trying to "do what's right." HOLY MOLY. If I think I need help and can't do it myself then I'll send up a cry both far and near for Underdog. Until then, STFU!

*cough* ahem, sorry.

Meanwhile, I hope you've seen the stuff about and by the woman who played the woman with Down Syndrome on the Family Guy episode. It turns out that the actress herself has Down Syndrome and thinks Palin should STFU. But she's far to polite and well mannered to say such a thing. Unlike the rest of us :-P.


And my mom has ALWAYS hated Jerry Lewis. "Oh, those POOOOR KIDS," she'd growl, "if he's really all for helping those POOOOOR KIDS just how many has he adopted, huh? Just how much does he really know about having something like MS, huh? Meeting someone with a disease doesn't make you their spokesman!" And then she'd use bad language. {Well, when I was a kid it was bad. Now it's milder than mine :-P.}

Mary said...

Dave,

This.

Thank you.

When I worked with people with disabilities I didn't have, I did not presume to speak for them. Instead, I tried my best to LISTEN. Now that I'm physically disabled as well, I retain my own voice, my own views, my own passion. I don't need anyone to speak for me, least of all an enemy to my family and my very survival.

Laura,

Sarah Palin cannot be an advocate for us when she *supports Rush Limbaugh using the words "retards" and "loonies"* (and not to refer to the birds in Canada, but to people like ME with, you know, psychiatric disabilities) to describe people with differing political views. What part of that do you NOT understand?

She cannot be an advocate of people with disabilities while she seeks to deny us health care. Indeed, she actively opposes even regulations ensuring we can get any type of health *insurance*, which is not the same thing as health care but might provide access for some people.

She cannot be an advocate for us while she opposes social security and disability funding.

She cannot be an advocate for me or speak for me when she opposes my right to preserve my own health (such as it is) by LEGALLY terminating a pregnancy that would substantially worsen my disability.

And where did you get the idea that she is "too middle class"? I don't know anyone who could even imagine labeling a $100K/speech politician "middle class." She's not even just upper class, she's extremely wealthy. Trig need never know the poverty that goes hand in hand with disability for virtually all of us living in the United States. Anyone who asserts that Sarah Palin is middle class is profoundly ignorant of income distribution in the US.

Every time some able bodied asshole with a self aggrandizing agenda grabs a microphone and starts speaking on my behalf, I am silenced. If Sarah Palin respected us, she would not presume to speak for us while insulting us and undermining our collective well being.

Is that plain enough?

Laura(southernxyl) said...

Moose, I saw the articles about Andrea Fay Friedman. This is what she said:

I guess former Governor Palin does not have a sense of humor. I thought the line “I am the daughter of the former governor of Alaska” was very funny. I think the word is “sarcasm.”

...

I was making fun of Sarah Palin, but not her son.

So Friedman thinks it's perfectly cool to make fun of somebody she doesn't know. And as long as Andrea thinks it's funny, Palin shouldn't object or she just shows herself not to have a sense of humor. Hm, what kind of language have I heard being justified that way? Oh, yeah.

Mary, SP has political ideas with which you don't agree, so she needs to SHUT UP. Only people whose ideas and lifestyle you approve get to talk. We can only tolerate officially approved opinions and we have to silence everything else, even if we have to make up stuff about their opposing funding to do it. I get it. I've been getting it.

Kristine said...

This post is fantastic, and whatever Dave didn't manage to cover, Mary did in her comment!

Laura, it isn't just about agreeing or disagreeing with Sarah Palin's politics. I disagree with the majority of her politics, but that's fine, she can have a different opinion. The point is that in the VAST majority of issues that are relevant to people with disabilities, she campaigns against our interests. You can't be an advocate for the disabled, while using your political influence to oppress the disabled. She just can't have it both ways!

The last thing on earth we need is a newer, younger, fresher version of Jerry Lewis, inspiring another generation of people to feel pity for the disabled, "the other." If she wants to be an advocate, then maybe she should pick a political issue that would actually do some good in the disabled community, and stand behind it!

If she's going to continue "advocating" with her mouth, and oppressing with her fists, then, yes, she should SHUT UP.

Laura(southernxyl) said...

"The point is that in the VAST majority of issues that are relevant to people with disabilities, she campaigns against our interests. You can't be an advocate for the disabled, while using your political influence to oppress the disabled."

Kristine, can you point to any specific oppressions Palin has pushed? With links? Not to other people complaining about her and paraphrasing or characterizing what she's said and done, but actual news reports or some kind of reliable, objective information source? To say that Palin is oppressing disabled people - that is a very serious charge. I'd like to know exactly what you are talking about.

Moose said...

Get over yourself, Laura. This isn't about making fun of people, and this isn't about Sarah Palin's politics. This is about people who think they have some god-given right to speak up on behalf of disabled people based on some half-assed idea that disabled people need an able body to speak up for them.

Seeing this issue as anything else is just pimping your own agenda.

Laura(southernxyl) said...

This is about people who think they have some god-given right to speak

Yes, exactly.

Except that you have the god-given right to tell them to shut up.

See, I get it.

Kristine said...

Are you serious? Sarah Palin's stances on health care are very well-known. You don't need any special link to find it. It doesn't take a big stretch of the imagination to see how lack of adequate health care oppresses the disabled. Her stances on government spending for social security, or vocational rehabilitation programs, or in-home care programs, etc, is very well-known. How on earth can she be helping the disabled to rise out of poverty and live to their full potential, without funding the programs and social services that are designed for those very purposes? Her political priorities do absolutely nothing for the disabled. ANY source can confirm it.

The better question would be, how IS she an advocate for the disabled? Other than having a child with Down's Syndrome, what makes her an advocate? Is every woman that willingly keeps a child with a disability then an advocate? That feels like REALLY lowering the bar...

Laura(southernxyl) said...

Kristine, yes, I'm serious.

Sometimes everybody knows something that's simply not so. Do you know how many people honestly think Palin said she could see Russia from her house?

To talk about adequate health care for a moment - there are different schools of thought about the best way to fix health care. It's a very immature and simplistic way of looking at things (excuse me) to think that there's only one way that health care should be done and everyone who thinks differently just doesn't want the disabled to get care. You can disagree with another person without assuming that they're evil.

I know that many people in Canada love the way health care is done there and think we're really backwards in not doing it the way they do. But you can look at stories like this and see that Canada's system is not necessarily ideal.

Excerpt:

A doctor at a health conference revealed that rationing is based on the values of the majority. My investigation revealed that palliative treatment was directed for babies like Annie and at home devices that would be available for other infants are specifically denied if there is a pre-existing condition.

That's the Canadian government denying care to a baby b/c she had a chromosomal disorder. The USA does not do that b/c the government does not run healthcare. I know our system isn't perfect but there are some problems we don't have (yet).

There's not a straightforward, choice A for good people, choice B for bad people, solution here. The fact that Palin may not see things the way you do doesn't make you wrong and her right, but it also doesn't make her evil and uncaring.

Anyway, I probably have trampled on Dave's blog way too much. I respect him and his work very much and I never meant to turn his comment thread into an argument. I'd simply ask that people not demonize a person, be that SP or anybody else, put words in her mouth, assume all kinds of stuff based on what people who disagree with her politics tell you, and actually do some research and look up what she's really said and done. And if I may suggest - ask yourself: if you found out that you were misled, and that she really did have a good heart and some good things to contribute, and had no intention of oppressing anyone - would you be pleased and relieved, or disappointed?

Stephanie said...

Laura - The thing you are failing to recognize is that SP deamonizes herself by her contradictory behavior? Want to know what she stands for - see who she is speaking to at the moment. You can pretty much bet that she will be spinning something for votes, etc. Want an example? She wants a freaking medal for "Choosing to carry a Down syndrome pregnancy to term" - Her words not mine (in her book)....but forces her 17 year old to have a child because they are "absolutely Pro-life"! Huh? If she was so "pro-life" where was the decision in carrying Trig's pg to term?

Healthcare is another issue - it would be made inaccessable for those to who she proffers herself as the great white hope.

Look - if she didn't want to be talked about, told to shut up, have her every move scutinized, she should have done 1 of 2 things: 1) stay the hell out of politics and the public eye or 2) make sure your house is in order and your message is consistant before you put yourself out there!

As far as I can tell, the ONLY thing she stands for right now, is whatever the person writing the biggest check wants her to.

So some research - even her own FB and political action committee sights contain contradictory information depending on the day and the newest crisis.

If you want to hitch your ride to her rapidly dwindling star, that is your right and perogative. That is part of what makes our country great. However, that is a to way street - the rest of us have a right to oppose her (or anybody else) if we so choose. At least allow others the same respect that you are demanding for yourself and her.

One more thing, the whole "I can see Russia" thing - It is actually true! From the top floor of her McMansion, she CAN see parts of Russia which are only 5 miles away. This was verified by Google maps and the wonderful people of Wasilla,AK.

Stephanie

Laura(southernxyl) said...

Stephanie. She forced her daughter to have that child? You really do just make stuff up, don't you? Well, if it gives you pleasure, have at it.

Stephanie said...

Laura - Did you miss the 17 year old pg Bristol? or the kid and the whole custody fight that has been making news? Yes - she PUBLICALLY stated, I believe in the famous Katie Couric interview, that she WOULD NOT have signed a permssion slip for an abortion - that it "was not an option for her". When rpessed on the issue if Bristol had asked to terminate, Palin just shrugged. I am SURE the video fottage is somewhere online.

It wasn't the only time she said it either - funny how people opposed to Palin are crazy until you can throw her OWN words and stupid actions back on her.

Wow......just wow!

Stephanie

Andrea S. said...

Laura,

If I had things I desperately wanted to say to the public about my experiences as a deaf person with several additional disabilities,

And if I had a pillow over my mouth that stopped me from saying these things,

Then, NO, I would NOT want for someone else to stand next to me bemoaning my plight, putting their own interpretation on what THEY think I'm upset about, or protesting what THEY think are my most important concerns. They're not me. How do they know what issues bother me the most if they haven't asked me directly? They're only guessing. They could, in their sincere good intent, end up highlighting issues I consider relatively minor while completely overlooking issues I feel far more passionate about. And meanwhile, the attention wouldn't really be pointed at me at all, it would be focused on them because they're the one actually speaking.

What I would want is for someone to help me remove that pillow from my mouth and give ME the megaphone so that *I* can speak out FOR MYSELF.

I DO welcome ALLIES who support me in my right to speak out for MYSELF and who will seek out ways to give ME the megaphone.

I also welcome allies who will LISTEN, and then LISTEN and LISTEN some more ... and then double check their comprehension with me ... and triple and quadruple check ... and then pass along my most important concerns in contexts where I maybe genuinely cannot go.

But there is a big difference between those kinds of ALLIES and people who think they can simply speak FOR us without bothering to actually take the time to consult with us first.

I'm not speaking specifically about Palin here. I'm confining myself to your own comments trying to defend anyone speaking with a megaphone who THINKS they are speaking "for" the person with the pillow over their mouth. If they haven't checked with the person being ignored, marginalized, silenced, then how can they be certain? And if they really can't check with the person directly (as is the case with a baby, with or without a disability), then they should do the next nearest thing which is consulting with people who share similar experiences. If the baby has Down's Syndrome, then talk with teens and adults who have Down's Syndrome. If the baby is deaf, then talk with deaf teens and adults--which is exactly what my parents did when I was a little deaf girl way back when. I'm proud to have my parents as hearing, non-disabled ALLIES who do speak out on deaf rights issues. But, see, they earned their credentials by first LISTENING. And by helping make sure that no pillow was put over my mouth in the first place.

Laura(southernxyl) said...

Yes - she PUBLICALLY stated, I believe in the famous Katie Couric interview, that she WOULD NOT have signed a permssion slip for an abortion - that it "was not an option for her".

Bristol would not have had to get permission to have an abortion. See here and here.

But go on making things up, since it gives you pleasure to think ill of SP. I wouldn't want to deprive you of that.

Laura(southernxyl) said...

Andrea, with respect, you don't know who SP has or hasn't talked to. You really have no idea.

Andrea S. said...

Laura,

I stated in my comment that I wasn't speaking specifically about SP. I was responding to YOUR comment, which was generalizing about people in general would want others to do for them if they had difficulty speaking up for themselves.

No, I don't know specifically what SP has or hasn't done in terms of listening. With due respect, I'm guessing you don't know either. But, again, I wasn't talking in specific terms of any one person. I was taking your comment and (precisely BECAUSE I don't know enough about the specifics of the case) bringing it to a broader level: what people (ANY people) should do in general when they encounter someone who has a message they want to share and, for whatever reason, has difficulty doing it themselves. The answer should be to identify and remove the barriers so they can speak on their own behalf, not (as you seem to imply in your comment) to hog the megaphone on your own behalf.

But I guess you just want to read attacks on SP into everything you read that you disagree with whether any such attack was intended or not.