Stories Ignored

A few weeks ago, the news had highlighted and then dropped some important stories that "had legs" in terms of television viewers not especially interested in disability issues and, more importantly from the perspective of our community, had even "better legs" and needed to be put in the spotlight where they could be discussed, debated, and covered with the attention deserving when considering their impact on society at large.

These were, to mention just two, the discovery of an Iraqi Orphanage where adolescent boys with "special needs" - media does not even know what to call us they are so used to excluding us from their lives, how could they know? These boys with mixed disabilities, largely cognitive and developmental, were found in the most squalid conditions possible. This should come as no shock to us in the community. TV did what it does - makes a splash - throws whatever attention on a subject that will benefit the media source and then moves on.

The other story was the "immunity deals" worked out with the two nurses in LA in the Katrina debacle - I prefer that word to disaster, because while this was an event of Nature, the murder of these men and women with disabilities and the deaths of others occurred not through the wishes of anyone's God, but rather the callousness of society, and our exclusion of people with disabilities in the human race.

[with]tv would have been on these stories from day one and would have not only advanced the cause through dialogue and discussion but would have garnered audience, industry admiration and advertising dollars all employing people with disabilities and without disabilities in the process. Think of the role models for youngsters with Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, the teenagers with spinal cord injuries and veterans returning from military service with acquired physical, emotional, and cognitive disabilities.

It is time for us to accept, learn and teach that disabilities mean money. That money means empowerment. It will happen when we are all make room for each other just like in a good game of "musical chairs" where as chairs are taken away the participants must accommodate each other on a shrinking space.

Howard Renensland, CEO