America its time to listen

  As many  of  you  long time readers  know, in my youth I was a Toy Story  fan.     I  have seen the movie  so many times that I know   all the lines and    when I can not sleep on  occasion I play the  first couple of scenes in  my head.  


   In this  movie  there is a claw  at the  Arcade   and   when  Buzz Lighter goes  into the claw  game    and asks for the boss  the   Aliens  say 


                  " The claw is our  master  He   decides   who will  go  and who will stay."  


   Woody   says  " This  is  ludicrous"  
 Woody  has  always  been  my  favorite character and    as a adult  I agree  with him.




      I am not  just  quoting  Toy story  for fun there is a  meaning.  Back  in  2006 around  Christmas time NPR  released a  story about  Misty Cargill    a  women who  was  25 years old  had a boyfriend and  worked at a job and loved bowling.      She also  needed a Kidney  transplant.     So  she needed to be  placed  in   a  metaphorical "claw  game.     Only this  time the claw  game  is  made up of many  people, doctors who deiced that she would be  better   stay  put with  the  kidney she  had because  she  had   an Intellectual disability.        On Sunday  Misty  died   at 31 years old. 31  when my parents were that  age they  were  just starting on their careers and  raising a family.    


  The  report in 2006   says that   she  did not  get denied based on discrimination.  I say that  is   not true.      Six  years  later  another girl with  ID was   denied to  have a   transplant surgery because    of ID.

 America  needs to  listen  to its disabled  citizens 

        I am  tired of this.    I am  tired  of  people  saying that  disabled people  are  not  worth the same  type of medical  help as  our  able body  counterparts. I am  saddened that there  is a possibility that     one day  society will have   wiped out   people  like me.  I can not imagine   the day  when   their is  parental  testing  for Cerebral  Palsy  and  that  parents are forced  to terminate.  It could  happened. It already  happens  for  conditions  like Down Syndrome.   People are trying to find  the cause of  Autism and   I  do not have to  be a genius to  figure out what is  next.  Soon    there will be a test for that as well. Society needs to stop trying to find cures  for disabilities.  Instead we need to have more conversations   about  inclusion  and  respect.   That will not happened  around here  because where I live kids with  Intellectual disabilities are segregated in separate  classrooms.    or when they are mainstream they have  bad teachers  who are invested  in    making sure inclusion fails.      This  is not in the south   in  the   1940's  this  is   2012   where we have a black president but  the  problems  still  happened.  Wake  up  America     lets  start a conversation with people with  disabilities   about  how we want to shape  our  future.   Let  it be broadcast   on TV  and online.   Lets  start  talking  about what needs to be done  by  listening to the people that  live with  the disability every day .  Let's  talk  now   before  it's  to  late.




 images are  from 


  alien 
http://johnlange.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/toy-story-aliens.jpg
 clipart 
http://cdn2.fotosearch.com/bthumb/IMZ/IMZ164/rco0030.jpg