It has taken some time for me to be able to post this message. The reason is because I am the parent of a person with a developmental disability and, because of that, I frequently experience bouts of grief and pain. It may be difficult for parents of typical people to understand this, but when you have a child/adult with a disability, much of the pain they feel from not being accepted is felt by we parents as well.
Recently, Colorado's Amendment 51 failed by a landslide. Amendment 51 would have provided all of the funding necessary to provide important service for people with developmental disabilities. Throughout this process, I have learned more about exactly how cruel people are than I ever really wanted to learn.
Throughout the campaign, many articles were written about the Amendment to which many people responded. The worst of these responses were people who said that people have no business giving birth to children with genetic disorders that can be detected prenatally and then expect taxpayers to foot the bill for their children. Others kept referring to these individuals as a "special interest group," and many of them said that "charities" should be providing the services, not taxpayers.
I guess I was ill-prepared for these cruel people. I'm not sure why. But it was, indeed, personal and it is taking a great deal of time to get over it. I look at my son and I wonder why people would want to deny him any kind of meaningful life. They would say "we're not denying him anything, he just needs to pull himself up by his bootstraps," but of course I don't even have to say why that theory doesn't hold water.
My question to the world is this: what's the point of life on earth if it isn't for one another?
Our country has a very long way to go before we reach equality or the high goals of our forefathers.
5 years ago
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3 comments:
My heart goes out to you. I go through the same bouts. I work and advocate and fight, but sometimes something just knocks the wind out of me for a while.
I try to remind myself that all the world is a bell curve--20% positive, 20% negative and 60% undecided. The folks that engage in public are from the 2 ends (and the positive are often chased underground by the negative) so the negative becomes the most visible... not REALLY the most prevalent...
But it is hard.
Breathe deep.
Thanks Terri.
At minimum, we learned that the "anti-tax" movement (even if the most vocal are only 20%), hold a lot of sway over meaningful change in this state.
It is interesting how many parents of kids with disabilities end up having to start organizations, learn how to be lobbyists AND work full time.
I know what you mean. It is exhausting.
Obama's election showed me that when the 20% positive are as actively engaged as the negative, the 60% will listen to them, but the 20% of positive are often buried in their lives (and in the case of disability, very complex lives.)
Disability gets dissed because their voice is so small--much to do, much to do.
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