Friday, February 29, 2008

Disability Vote 2008 Meets Horton Hears A Who..

We are here..

We are here..

WE ARE HERE..

And here..

And here..

And... And....... And.................

:wink:

Cyber hugs from the Hills of North Georgia..

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Cinderella Wishes Out Loud :: "Increase the Peace"..

Dearest Fairy Godmother..

So sorry long time no commune.. Those nasty boogers, Life and Reality, just seem to keep doing their dadgummiest to get in the way..

Just wondering if you were privy to any new intel regarding D-Day on the permanent banishment of the Hatred, Harm, Hypocrisy, and Hunger that abounds our World over..??

IMPOSSIBLE, you say..??

Impossible things are happening every day.......

Warmest Daydreams from the Hills of North Georgia.. :wink:

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

In Loving Memory :: Mark Dyer, ADAPT..

Through a member post over at the Georgia ADAPT (American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today) emailing list, many thanks to Cheri Mitchell for passing along that we have lost a dear friend, a very active disability advocacy family member, Mark Dyer..

Mark was one of those really active individuals you might not always see but would definitely hear of a lot if you spent any Time around the disABILITY LINK hub down there in Decatur.. I had the distinct honor of a fun, interesting, and educational exchange with him last year at (I think it was) the Georgia Independent Living Network's C.A.U.S.E. Best Practices Conference.. Earlier this very week, had just once again thought back on that moment as exemplary, as worthy of personal aspirations in my own self-advocacy efforts..

Dearest Mark.. Your inspirational activism will be missed by many..

Warm cyber hugs from the Hills of North Georgia..

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Autism United :: CBS owes Persons with Autism Apology..

Couldn't say it any better than they did below.. From Autism United comes the following (via Glynda King at MHDDAD, hugs)..

For what it's worth, the "r" word (retard, retarded) along with other similar disabilistic references have been making a tremendous comeback in television scripts the last few months.. Oh, for a cheap 'puter to have been able to realtime rock the word in rebuke as they appeared.. :hint, hint, wink:

CBS owes an apology.

People with autism are not "retards."

Last week on an episode of the CBS program "Big Brother" cast member Adam Jasinski referred to people with autism as "retards." This dehumanizing language is unacceptable. When Don Imus used racially callous language on his program CBS executives Leslie Moonves and Sumner Redstone issued an apology, fired Imus and cancelled his show. We call up Mr. Moonves and Mr. Redstone to issue an apology to people with autism and other developmental disabilities, fire Adam Jasinski, and cancel Big Brother.

Please forward this message to friends and family.

If you would like to write to Mr. Moonves and Sumner here is their contact information

Mr. Leslie Moonves
Chief Executive Officer
CBS Corporation
51 West 52nd Street
New York, NY 10019-6188
Phone: 212-975-4321

Mr. Sumner Redstone
Executive Chairman
CBS Corporation
51 West 52nd Street
New York, NY
10019-6188
Phone: 212-975-4321

The text of Autism United's letters to Mr. Moonves and Mr. Sumner is below.

We are writing to express our dismay and disgust at comments that were made by Adam Jasinski during the broadcast of "Big Brother" program. In episode 2, Jasinsiki describes his plans to open a hair styling business catering to people with autism who he refers to as "retards."

Just as we are confident that CBS would not tolerate the use derogatory epithets regarding race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation we hope that the use of derogatory terms for people with disabilities in also unacceptable in your programming.

We believe Jasinski should be terminated immediately, and we believe that the show should be cancelled. Further, we expect an apology to people with autism, developmental disabilities and their families from Jasinski, Big Brother, CBS and National Amusements. While Jasinski displayed gross ignorance, the producers of the show chose to use his comments to forward the show's storyline. This displays a conscious choice on their part to demean and hurt a large group of people to further their own commercial goals.

While a large number of people with autism do have mental retardation, a very large portion do not and they are perfectly capable of understanding that they have been denigrated in an extremely demeaning way by a program broadcast for profit by CBS.

Family members of people with autism, especially parents, are constantly challenged by the great deal of misinformation surrounding autism. Broadcasts such as Big Brother makes caring for a family member with autism all that more difficult.

It is appropriate I believe to note that the Holocaust began with the extermination of developmental disabled children in a secret program called Aktion T-4. The techniques, organization and personnel for Aktion T-4 went directly to run the extermination camps at Treblinka, Sobibor and others. All extermination campaigns begin with the de-humanization of the target group. And referring to developmental disabled people and people with autism as "retards" indeed fails to recognize the humanity of people with these disorders.

We have also contacted advertisers on Big Brother, including Saturn, Pfizer, Geico, Bertoli, Lowe's, Theraflu, and Taco Bell and have asked them if they want their products associated with language that demeans people with autism and other disabilities.

Thank you for your time and consideration and we look forward to your response.

Warmest cyber hugs from the hills of North Georgia..

UNITED IN ADVOCACY..!!

Friday, February 8, 2008

I Just Don't Get It :: All The Service Funding Cuts Going On..

Rumors (translation: no associated link of confirmation to share) came my way recently (waves to disABILITY LINK NW) that, here in Georgia, funding is in danger of being stripped away from supporting full community inclusion for PWDs and instead will be poured back in to nursing homes and other similar long term care facilities, i.e. jail and segregation.. With all the forward-thinking universal inclusion strides made through individuals' undaunted advocacy and self-advocacy efforts over the years, can we say, "Bass ackwards or what..??!!"

Another desperate "help stop this funding cut" action alert that just hit my inbox (waves to Glynda and Jeannie over at MHDDAD) comes from Mental Health America.. The Mental health slammed in Bush Budget, help fight back! alert states:

The President's $3.1 trillion proposed budget for FY 2009 abandons the millions of children and adults with mental health needs and others at risk of mental health problems. It slashes Medicaid funding by $18 billion over 5 years, and drastically cuts funding of a wide range of other federal programs critical to people with or at risk of mental health problems.

On behalf of the most vulnerable, we CANNOT let this happen. Raise your voice with others and call on Congress to reject the Administration's budget and adopt a budget that makes children and adults living with, or at risk of, mental health conditions one of the nation's most urgent priorities.

What's getting these fingertips more than just a little bit bent of late are the seemingly gabillions of Marines.com U.S. Marine Corps ads running right now...........

Proudly announcing sponsorship of...........

Totally Life-altering...........

Totally Life-affecting...........

Basketball games.

Am I completely mistaken, or is not the military also funded by federal dollars..??

Perhaps near even wholly supported by the same..??

And, if so, could not those dollars being wantonly spent on frivolous ballgames not be redirected to rescue Life-saving, Life-sustaining, non-segregation-supporting community services constantly in danger of being cut..?

:scratches head and furrows brow:

Guessing that those who hold our Nation's purse strings do so have their priorities, doesn't they.. :wink:

Warm cyber hugs from the Hills of Northwest Georgia..