I just got an email that truly pissed me off. The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) invited me to the 2011 Gala in Washington DC. Last year I thought about going. This year no such thoughts entered my mind. In fact the mere email notice made me mad. Why am I mad? How about this--the AAPD Image Award goes to to the cast and creative team behind the television show Glee. Glee? Glee? No it cannot be Glee--you know the show where Arnie dreams of walking and portrays an image of disability that is one gross stereotype after another. And yes the same Arnie portrayed by an actor without a disability. A modern day equivalent of white people putting on black face circa 1930. Were the people at the AAPD smoking dope when they made this decision? Maybe they dropped some acid. How can the AAPD be oblivious to the fact Glee has enraged people with disabilities. Has the AAPD read anything about the outrage directed toward the show Glee? I am far from alone in expressing my outrage at the way people with disabilities are portrayed on Glee.
If the Glee reference were not enough I was more outraged by the list of speakers. A few token crips are on the agenda--no surprise there. The AAPD tagged Stevie Wonder and Bob Dole among others. But also speaking is Gerald Arpey, the President and CEO of American Airlines. Yes , the CEO of a major American airliner is asked to speak. This person works in an industry that has a long history of discrimination against people with disabilities. Why just last year the DOJ reported complaints against the big American carriers, airlines like American, rose sharply. Come on, how oblivious can the AAPD be? I do not expect much from such galas. They are all about show not substance But the AAPD must make some effort to ground such a gala in reality. Of course prominently displayed in the email was the offer of sponsorships. Opportunities are available from $1,000 to $250,000. Yikes that is a lot of money. Instead of patting themselves on the back fro a job well done perhaps the AAPD could look into the following states:
California: Budget cuts threaten developmentally disabled children. See also ADAPT protests at what they dubbed Arnieville.
South Carolina: An all out effort is being made to reduce disability services.
Illinois: Budget cuts across the board that affect elderly and disabled people. Some worry entire programs will be eliminated.
I could go on state by state. Who gets hurt? People with no voice, no connected lobbyists, those that can least afford to suffer, those most in need. I have yet to read one thing the AAPD has done to stop the budget cuts that hurt people with disabilities. What I wonder were organizers thinking? It is obvious the AAPD is divorced from the reality most people with disabilities experience. Anyone with an ounce of common sense would not invite the cast of Glee or CEO of any American airline. But hey what do I know. I have only been thinking and writing about disability rights since Bob Murphy put the idea in my brain shortly after I was paralyzed. His book, The Body Silent, changed my life. To me, this is only another example that those in Washington DC politics are a class apart from the average citizen. But for now I am just mad. Furious in fact. The AAPD can go kiss my skinny Irish ass.