Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Dear Pete Schiff,


 My  family  has a weekday   night time tradition watching the  Daly Show  and  the  Colbere   Report.    Due to the   State of the  Union  Adress  it was not  on  when  I went down  stairs.
  So I was dishearten   when  I   saw the following clip .


    I  really  hated  the last  part.  It felt like  I  was being  punched  in the gut.    You  see  I am 22 years old  and  live  with a developmental disability.     I have  Cerebral  Palsy.


  No  I  do not have  a  intellectual  disability that is  the  proper  term  now  not  the  R  word .  Although  if you met  me    you might think that I do  because  I have a speech  impairment  and  drool  at  times.   But  it  still  hurts  what   Pete  said.     I do not  respect  him   enough to  use his  last  name.

      In  the spring of  2009   I had a school  meeting  at which  time  a  job  coach  sat  across the  table  from  me and my  mother and  recommend  that I    work at Safeway,  most likely  working  for  pennies a  hour, and live in   a group home.   He  had said this    despite the  fact that I was in my second semester of   Advanced  Placement    United States  History,  which  I  ended up   passing the AP  test  with  a three.    I was a junior at the time, so  when senior  year rolled around  I  was scared  of    leaving  high school.   Can  you  blame  me?    I did not  want  to  do it and I  assumed that  the  job coach was right because he  worked in the field and knew me.  Senior year   I  had to work   one of those jobs and I hated.  I  got a pay check   but was   unaware of the  low  wages.     To this day I am scared  of working a  entry  level  job.      Its not  fair .  I  want to  get   off  social  security,  you see that is where the money comes from   but its hardly enough to live off of.


        After   high school,   I  decided to  attend  a  community  college and  I  excelled in those classes. I  got  good  grades.  I  got so many that when  I   graduated  I was able to graduate with honors.   Thats  right a  person  who  was   predicted  to  work  for   pennies  a hour   went on to graduate with honors.   I am not  worthless.  I  attend   university  where  people   did not   respect    me and    am  currently on a leave of absence to  care of my health.


 The  world  is not set up for  people with disabilities.       Colleges  do not  know how  to  included  those with developmental  disabilities and  thanks  to the loophole in  the Fair  Employment Act    the jobs  that  societies  expect us to do barely  pay  us  anything.   Disabled  people have  feelings  and   we want   to  be include  in life.      We can  be  tax  payers,  some  people   may need help  paying  taxes but they  can  still  pay   them.  We  do not need   to be  dependent on the    government.


  Oh   and  our  founding  fathers   said  this  about  people.


   "  We  all  hold  these  truths to be self  eve dent that all  men  are created  equal."   Ring a  bell.   If not  look  in the Declaration  of  Independence and  maybe then you will  find a  heart

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