Wednesday, April 06, 2011

The Day The Dog Didn't Die


I was sent this video via email. I hadn't heard about it. That bothers me. Almost daily I hear of the abuse and victimization of people with intellectual disabilities. Regularly I hear of discriminatory practice and of demeaning interactions. I need to know these things. I'm glad I'm told, I'm glad that we are developing a means of informing one another and of taking action. But I think it equally important that when people attempt to do something right, to counteract bias and bigotry, the word needs to be spread. This happened on April 3rd, a couple of days ago - but these days two days is a lifetime in terms of the speed of media. Yet not one person told me of it, I have been in a variety of places with many people over that time and I heard not one conversation regarding the performance, nothing - silence. Then, a lone email appears in my box with a note saying 'you probably heard about this' ... um, no, I didn't.

A starlet says the 'r' word and the disability world is in uproar.

A group of people, proudly identifying as having intellectual disabilities appear on national television to sing a song they wrote in conjunction with music industry pros - and I don't hear a peep.

I think that's wrong.

What's equally interesting is that I hesitated bringing this here to the blog. I just knew that many would be very critical of how this was done, what was said, how it was said, the tone it was said in, some might be offended by a particular word. So, I've noticed something odd. When something bad happens we are almost unanimous in our condemnation - this is good. Many voices speaking as one. However when something good happens, many become hyper-critical. 'I didn't like that they ...' or 'I think that they should have ...'. Everything could be done better. That's a given. But when something is attempted, when the spirit is to inform, inspire and inculcate new ways of thinking - well, isn't that good?

So here's to Darius Rucker, here's to song writers Brett James and Chris Young who worked with people with disabilities in writing the song, here's to CMA for making space for people with disabilities to shine. I found the whole thing moving.

Here's also to a day when we all learn how to graciously say 'thanks' for moments, in a world of negativity, when powerful positive sentiment occur.

Brett, Chris and Darius, consider your backs patted and your hands shook. Add to that a hearty, 'thank you' from me.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Dave,

awesome!

It is a wonderful experience if you are encouraged to sing deep from the heart. Life would be so much harder without music.

And it is such an improvement in the thinking process of many to let people with a disability openly participate at such an event.

It shows diversity and inclusion in a very good way.

During the last days (inspired a little by your blog) I was watching commercials on TV very critical. I wonder why there is never a disabled person or someone not immensly beautifull (in a stereotype kind of way)in a single commercial...

It is time for a change in the world and I am glad that there are people working on it.

Thank you for sharing this video.

Julia

Rainbow said...

Does nyone know if this video is on Youtube? The embedded video on this post is inaccessible to my screen reader - this is probably Blogger's fault, if it's anyone's.

Dave Hingsburger said...

Hi, sorry about that angel, here is the youtube address, or, alternately just search darius rucker music from the heart and you should find it ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtkxjCkGPug&feature=feedwll

Anonymous said...

Love that Dave....thanks for posting a link!
Love Linda (LinMac)

LoriJ said...

What a wonderful way to start my morning. I will be humming that song all day long. Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

AWESOME!!!♥

What a great way to start this beautiful day! Thanks so much for sharing it!

Belinda said...

Wow, this made my day. I loved it.

Rachel said...

Very nice!

This hits home especially with me because I sing, now in a local chorus, and have started up voice lessons after a ten-year or so break. It is more fun than I have the words to express. I will never be a great opera singer nor do I want to be, but my life is vastly improved by by what I do.

Music is a very human thing. There's no reason for barriers in it.

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful way to start the day! Thank you.

Jan said...

Dave the video is awesome and shows what true inclusion is. This brightened up and otherwise dreary morning. It is not often I start my day with tears but this video made me cry with joy. The talented individuals in the video were showcased not necessarily for their disabioity but for their obvious talent and joy of music. AWESOME

Walrilla said...

I'm sorry, Dave. I knew about this(my daughter has the same syndrome, Williams' Syndrome) and just assumed that you knew about it.

I apologize for assuming. I told all my friends and family, and everyone I work with to watch. I guess I should have been a bit more broad in my scope. B-)

It was great seeing all those people up there.

I wonder, too, if you have heard of Gloria Lenhoff? She is a lady with Williams' Syndrome, and a classically trained Soprano. Check oput her many performances on Youtube, such as this one, "Williams Syndrome Music Savant Gloria Lenhoff conquers "Knoxville, Summer of 1915" Part #1"

Robyn said...

I did see this also! I love the JOY these guys had on their faces and the hugs and hi fives at the end were priceless. If we could all retain just a small amount of this joy in our lives what a life we would lead!!

Princeton Posse said...

Great way to start the day...with singing!

Lauren said...

I am taking a human behavior class which said that for survival we have become good at recognizing "cheating" or people who do wrong to us because remembering who not to trust is adaptive. This precludes that remembering who is fair or who do good for us is sort of a waste of time (we should spend our energy learning who not to trust). I'm not saying this is moral, but it may explain why we are often quick to complain about bad things but rarely commend good things. I guess that means we just have to make more of a conscious effort to focus on positive things too.

Maggie said...

What a lovely song! THanks SO much for sharing this.

Michael said...

Thanks Dave for posting this! I shared it at work and we had a few teary eyes togehter. A lovely video. I also agree that we need to share good news stories as well as those that outrage us... Perhaps even moreso.
Michael

Anonymous said...

That video was really up lifting! I agree with what you were commenting on that people need to be showing more of the postive news and sharing good experiences with each other instead of bad experiences all the time.
It was inspiring to see inclusion!!
Thanks for sharing.
CC

Myrrien said...

I enjoyed the video - great

Myr

rosemarie_rage said...

I'm not going to lie, I got a little misty eyed from watching that video. I think you hammered the nail right on the head. In terms of the media people do tend to gravitate to negative events in the world, and there is a complete lack of the positive images in the media, this includes people promoting inclusion. It's almost like you have to search long and hard for it, and occasionally it will peek-a-boo out and surprise you. Which is definitely not enough.

I think there should definitely be more media that promotes the power of positivity and visual examples of what some people are doing to change the world. I like to think of it like visiting an art gallery, its inspiring for me to visit galleries, it gives a boost to my creativity and opens new windows on what is possible. I feel the exact same way when i see imagines in the media like this video. I think if more things were promoted like this video, it might open up new windows on whats possible for other people to do to extend their reach on the world, and to connect with their fellow man.

(Ps. I love your blog. I'm a DSW student, and we were assignment as part of our final assignment to review your blog, and give our impressions of it, and I have to let you know there is much love for you in our classroom. Keep up the great work.)

-Ash

Anonymous said...

Hi Dave!
This video you posted was absoloutly amazing! I love that they were widly accepted, and gave those people the opportunity to perform. it takes alot of courage and strength to get up infront of such a large crowd. You could see by the smiles on their faces that they were having the time of their life up there. I think from this it will encourage others to try new things, and give others courage. I do think that the volume could have been louder so you could actually hear them, but it was well put together. The important part was that they were having fun.
Thanks for posting Dave! Your blog is great!
KB

Stephanie said...

I am really surprized that you hadn't heard about it. It is a BIG deal in the DS community right now. I think the next day every.single. post on my FB page was this video.


I agree with you - we don't catch folks doing good enough. :)

Hugs!~

Steph and Christopher

Destinee Dale said...

Cindi shared this video with me a couple of days ago. she called me into her office to show it to me with the warning to bring Kleenex. I was thankful for the warning. What a great feeling when others see the value in those that we hold dear. There are yet others out there that see the possibilities in all of humanity. Awesome!

Kristin said...

Wow...thanks for sharing this with us Dave.

Anonymous said...

That was freakin' AWESOME! I got all choked up...I'm late catching up with your blogs but your comments about not knowing about this and wondering why no one told you prompts me to ask if you know about this site...
http://www.r-word.org/

moplans said...

Thanks Dave!
Sadly I had not heard about this either
time to start listening to more country!

Jill H. said...

I had not seen or heard of this video either, until now. It is amazing; it brought tears to my eyes. It seems like a lot of people focus more on the negative aspects of disabilities, or any topic for that matter. You are definitely right when talking about how when there is something negative said it is all over the media, yet when something positive is said or done no one knows about it. I can’t believe when people become very critical when something good is done, it really does not make sense to me. I love this video and the song, it will be going on my iPod.

Jill H.