It's Nice to Be Noticed

Over at the Disability Studies blog, there's a recent post that takes note of a piece I wrote several years ago in MAINSTREAM magazine. The magazine is no longer published, but this piece on Tiny Tim lives on. By the way, it's also posted on this site down below from last Christmastime. Read and enjoy. And thanks much to Penny Richards for pointing out the piece.

Look Who's Against Us

You know that the ADA Restoration Act is moving though Congress with a ton of supporters in both houses. And yet, there's another ton of people opposed to fixing the ADA so that it clarifies the intent of the original law protecting the rights of all Americans against discrimination on the basis of disability.
Over at National Council of Independent Living, they've got a post and a link to the list of organizations opposing the Restoration Act. Check it out. Take a minute and tell one or more or all of them to straighten up and fly right.

Here's the list:
Opposed to The ADA Restoration Act:
Associated Builders & Contractors
Food Marketing Institute
HR Policy Association
International Foodservice Distributors Association
International Franchise Association
National Association of Convenience Stores
National Association of Manufacturers
National Council of Chain Restaurants
National Federation of Independent Business
National Restaurant Association
National Retail Federation
National Roofing Contractors Association
Retail Industry Leaders Association
Society for Human Resource Management
U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Jerry Lewis shows who matters

Labor Day again, and that clown Jerry Lewis staggers through a numbing day, rattling his tin cup for money for MDA. Crips have been complaining and protesting for years about Lewis's attitude and derogatory decriptions about people with disabilities. The mainstream media has taken little note. But this time, Jerry let fly a crude anti-gay remark -- and you can read about it, and hear about, just about everywhere. The gay community has media clout. Good on 'em.

The disability community has a long way to go to match that clout. We're working on it, and making headway. But it always seems to be somebody else's job.

We even have trouble getting other groups interested in our issues.

Last weekend, the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Assocation held its annual meeting in San Diego. I was on a panel about disability and coverage of disability issues. There were five panelsts named; one was sick and could not come; two failed to show. Not that it mattered much; only three people turned up to hear the discussion.

So it goes at most such events. The panel almost always outnumbers the audience at disability sessions at journalism gatherings. Nobody wants to be disabled -- or think about it. If they have a disability, most journalists don't want to admit it. Journalists, like most people (I would say), think of disability as an individual medical issue, not as a social-political-economic issue encompassing a huge class or group of people.

It is ironic that on Labor Day many people with disabilities have to protest and demonstrate to claim our basic human rights instead of focussing attention on our epidemic unemployment and poverty.

I Hate Tiny Tim

It's nostalgia time. Again. The following is a piece I wrote several years ago for MAINSTREAM magazine (I was the editor). I trot it out every year or so. Enjoy.

I hate Tiny Tim.
TT is on the ropes in Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol. Sickly and dependent, TT is getting shakier and shakier on that homemade little crutch. But he is saved from death by old Ebeneezer Scrooge, who sees the light in the nick of time.
Now, before you go apoplectic at my assault on wee Tim, think about how he helps shape some of society's most cherished attitudes -- charity, pity (for poor little TT), for example. Tiny Tim, plucky, sweet and inspirational, tugs at the public heart.
TT has become Disabled Everyone in popular culture. TT is Jerry's Kid.
Society idealizes this sentimental image of disability as a pitiful child in desperate need of help. People feel better when they give a few bucks or a little toy for a kid with a disability.
As an enduring symbol of modern Christmas time, Tiny Tim resonates with a deeper, darker meaning for people with disabilities. The problem is that not all people with disabilities are children, but we all tend to be treated as if we are Tiny Tims.
When I'm in the stores and malls this time of year I get a lot of smiles meant for TT. How do I know? Well, I am a middle-aged bearded and balding adult in a power-driven wheelchair. People, mostly women but some men also, flash smiles at me. Not the kind of smiles most men would hope for from a woman, nor the neutral courtesy smile exchanged by strangers passing on the sidewalk, but that particular precious smile that mixes compassion, condescension and pity. It's withering to the person on the receiving end.
I hate it.
I hate it because this Tiny Tim sentimentality stereotypes people with disabilities and contributes to our oppression. When you think about a person with a disability as someone to feel sorry for, as someone to be taken care of and looked after, it is difficult to think about hiring them as a teacher, an architect or an accountant. That's part of the reason why the jobless rate among working age people with disabilities consistently hovers around 70 percent.
And because family, friends and reborn Scrooges nourish and protect Tiny Tim, the rest of society doesn't have to worry too much about making sure people with disabilities have equal access to education, adequate housing, transportation, and other public facilities.
What about the highly touted Americans with Disabilities Act, you ask? Good question -- and good law for the most part. But complaints about violations of the ADA are piling up faster than federal agencies such as the Justice Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission can handle them.
Inadequate resources are available to enforce the law. And local authorities moan and groan about unfunded federal mandates that they can't afford to implement -- such as providing access to all citizens.
Every year this country spends more than $200 billion on programs that essentially keep persons with disabilities in a state of dependence, severely restricting us from getting a good education, going to work, or even getting married.
Not all of that money could be saved by removing the penalties on people with disabilities, but billions unquestionably could be saved. Not only would people with disabilities gain independence, but thousands of us would become taxpayers instead of tax users.
These are serious issues affecting people with disabilities and our struggle to be included fully in American life. Remember this the next time those facial muscles begin to activate that Tiny Tim reflex.
TT belongs to Christmas Past. And that's no humbug.

Jerry Lewis siding with us????

Jerry Lewis and MDA have join the disability rights movement campaign to get the government (in the guise of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) to back off draconian new rules on providing power chairs and scooters to people with disabilities. The new rules, set to take effect in two weeks, will make it even more difficult to get the equipment we need to live reasonably, let alone independently.

These new rules affect everybody who uses powered mobility equipment. It's not just people "confined" to their homes, as Medicare likes to think of it. It's all of us who work, go to school and otherwise participate in the life of our communities. That's because most if not all health insurance providers follow Medicare standards in supplying mobility equipment.

On the one hand, the Government talks loftily of promoting the independence of people with disabilities in education and employment, and access to everything the ADA promises.

But then at the same time they pull the rug out from under us with this kind of ruinous action. It is inside out and upside down.

The statement by Jerry Lewis and MDA gets it pretty much right:

"Under the new policy, applicants who can transfer from bed to wheelchair by standing and pivoting, with or without assistance, won't be eligible for power wheelchairs with more than basic features. This assessment doesn't account for disease progression and fatigue, crucial factors when determining the wheelchair needs of a person with neuromuscular disease, Lewis said.

More complex features such as tilt, recline, stronger motors, custom headrests, and ability to navigate uneven terrain provide wheelchair users with more independence and safety. For instance, tilt-and-recline features assist users with self-transfers, are safer on steep inclines and help prevent pressure sores.

If chairs have fewer features needed for independence, the result may be to force people out of their homes and into long- term care facilities.

In addition, the new fee schedule places a greater financial burden on low-income people with severe disabilities and the nonprofit organizations that serve them."

These new Medicare rules put crushing pressure on people with disabilities for no good reason but to save a buck. It's not medicare, it's mediterror.

We need to see more of this from DOJ

Accessible, affordable housing is a critical need for people with disabilities across this country. Today, your Department of Justice struck a blow for our side: Settling a suit against a group of developers, builders, architects and engineers who built two apartment complexes in Olathe, Kansas leaving out legally required access features. The Ridgeview and Indian Meadows apartment complexes will have to retrofit parking areas, paths and walkways, public and common-use areas, as well as interiors of ground-level units to enhance access -- at a cost of about $1.2 million. Plus these losers will cough up $200,000 for access features on request, $200,000 for damages to unidentified victims, and $50Gs in penalties. Oh, and they have to get training on the requirements of the Fair Housing Act and the ADA -- so they don't do this crap again. Good.

Murdering for purity

Given all that we have heard about life and dictatorship in North Korea, this should not be surprising. The report from the Times of London is chilling. I found the link from Andrew Sullivan.

THE North Korean regime’s obsession with racial purity has led to the killing of disabled infants and forced abortions for women suspected of conceiving their babies by Chinese fathers, according to a growing body of testimony from defectors.
The latest description of Kim Jong-il’s policy of state eugenics came from a North Korean doctor, Ri Kwang-chol, who escaped last year and told a forum in Seoul that babies with deformities were killed soon after birth.

“There are no people with physical defects in North Korea,” Ri said. Such babies were put to death by medical staff and buried quickly, he claimed. He denied ever committing the act himself.

Exiles in Seoul said Ri was now keeping a low profile, fearing retaliation by North Korean agents, who have assassinated foes in the South Korean capital before. But his account added to the evidence that the Kim family dictatorship is founded on mystical notions of Korean racial superiority rather than Marxism — a reality that explains its deepening estrangement from China.

Eugenics. Murder.

Carnival arrives in town

Check out the first Carnival of Disability Blogs by Penny Richards at Disability Studies, Temple U. There's a lot of terrific stuff out there. And let me add, as have others, that it's good to see Mary Johnson back.

Not-so-free speech cancelled

San Diego has long been known as a conservative town. Very conservative. Sizzling growth over the past decade or so may be reshaping the old image. One sign: Today's Union-Tribune (forever sneered at by many as a parrot for far-right-wingers and the local establishment) carries a small item about a "Speakers Series" biting the dust before a word was uttered. Poor ticket sales ($60 each) were blamed for the cancellation of the series, which was to be highlighted by former NY mayor Rudy Giuliani and political shouter Ann Coulter. Bob Dole and not-so-conservative James Carville and Wesley Clark were also on the bill. Maybe the conservatism is morphing into ennui.

Rough Ride: Segway bumps into total recall

I haven't seen much comment about the big recall of the much-ballyoo'd Segway this week. The company is calling back ALL 23,500 of the wheely toys that it has ever sold because of what's termed a software glitch that can cause the wheels to reverse course and maybe toss the driver off. What I find most interesting is that after all the hype only 23,500 Segways have been sold since 2002. That doesn't seem like very many worldwide. But then, they cost from $4,000 to $5,500 a pop. Even selling that few is a lot of money. A lot of money.