A friend sent me a link to an article in the Huffington Post by Timothy Shriver, Chairman of the Special Olympics and long time advocate for those with intellectual disabilities. In part Shriver was inspired to write because of a series of articles in the New York Times and specifically the death of Jonathan Carey. Carey was a 14 year old man with autism that died in the care of the State of New York. The state did not kill Carey but sure did play a significant role in his needless and tragic death. What has struck me about the story of Carey's death is the lack of a response. Just another person with a disability that is dead. Ho hum. This makes for filler on newscasts and newspapers. Worse yet, Carey is the tip of the iceberg according to Shriver--and he is sadly correct. The death of people with a disability is somehow seen not as tragic but a release from their suffering. This makes the general public feel good but scares me to death. It is indicative of a social, governmental and health care failure. This has led Shriver to postulate:
"How is it possible that more than three decades after the United States began to desegregate schools for people with intellectual disabilities, more than two decades after the United States passed the Americans with Disabilities Act, and five years after the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a massive dignity deficit remains? The bitter truth is that subtle but persistent discrimination against people with intellectual disabilities remains rampant around the world. Sadly, most people still perceive a person with an intellectual disability as incapable of contributing to his community and thus, treat her as a liability that is all too easily ignored. The language we use is revealing: they are "in-valids", "retards", "dis-abled".
It's a short distance from that type of discrimination to abuse and even murder, but it's an equally short distance from empowerment to dignity.
The phrase "out of sight out of mind" comes to mind. We shunt off people with disabilities to group homes, nursing homes, resource rooms at school, special seating at stadiums and in mass transportation. This sort of segregation is not only allowed but socially sanctioned. It is perfectly legal. It is also wrong and destroys the lives of millions of people with a disability. The disability does not matter--the social isolation and intolerance is simply wrong. What I want to know is when will this end? How many more people need to die before we as a society will not tolerate such abuses?