Downs Syndrome
Sue O’Reilly, who has guest written today’s column on The Angry Cripple is a freelance journalist and the mother of a 21-year-old son with cerebral palsy. She co-founded Australians Mad as Hell last year with Fiona Porter to campaign for an NDIS and established a charity called Fighting Chance to help people with disabilities pay for essential therapy services.
The president of South Australia’s Council on Intellectual Disabilities recently stated that all people with disabilities have “a right to live in an ordinary home in an ordinary street”.
But what if some people with disabilities don’t want to live in “an ordinary house in an ordinary street”?
What if they want to live in something like the manicured villages that have sprung up everywhere for people over 55, or an apartment complex with 24/7 care facilities?
Continue reading "Disability advocates ignoring what’s best for disabled" »
Most Australian media like to run the “Crippled Orphan Boy overcomes Headlessness to Swim the Murray for Charity” or “Wheelchair Bound (yuck) Woman Speaks to Schoolkids about Dangers of Drunk Driving” kinds of stories.
They are not often actually inspiring to me. Mostly, they make me feel as though people with disabilities are to be routinely pitied, and awarded if they do anything more than get out of bed in the morning.
There was, however, one guy doing the rounds last week who was a little different. Nick Vujicic, a 28-year-old Brisbane bloke who is a Minister and motivational speaker, and he’s got no arms or legs, just a kind of a foot that sticks out from one hip. This guy’s ‘can do’ attitude is almost sickening.
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Simon J. Green says:
Mike J, I’m very seriously asking you why you wrote the above comment. Why? I’d like to hear to explain your thoughts more. Do you resent people in wheelchairs? Do you feel that the author represents an ‘entitlement’ complex? Why did you choose such a mean and put-down ridden way… Read more »
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deb says:
Slick,what about all the disabled, the mentally ill and needy already in the countryside? dont they deserve more carers, services ect… Read more »
hy·poc·ri·sy (h-pkr-s) n. pl. hy·poc·ri·sies
1. The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness.
2. An act or instance of such falseness.
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kristian says:
papachango: Eventually we’ll run out of words and just say “person”. Read more »
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Steve says:
You clearly *have* missed the point. If it’s ok to use “deaf” and “blind”, then why shouldn’t it be OK to say “Crippled”? The difference between these and “retarded” is that retarded applies to our intelligence, not our physicality. A “crippled’ nuclear reactor? - It physically has been “broken”. A… Read more »
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