The Voiceless Minority

 So a couple of days ago, a friend of mine sent me a group message on Facebook. Usually, I ignore group messages, and I don't know why, but I do. This time I checked it out, though, because this friend does not usually send group messages. Upon further review of the message, I clicked on an article, which was very disturbing. This blog piece is less applaud and more a letter to the subject of that article.         Most of us in this U.S. love sports, and one of the most popular sports in our country, is the NFL. For my unfamiliar world readers, that stands for the National Football League. Football players in America have undergone many changes throughout the decades. When the game started, there was not as much fanfare surrounding it as there is now. Players got "real" jobs in the off-season and did not forget that they played a game for a living.               Howeve...

So I've written a lot about disability issues, and while that is my main focus for this blog, I thought I would expand it a little bit. To show you (the reader) that while I, as a disabled person, am very aware of issues that concern the disabled community, I am more than just a disabled person. Therefore, this blog post is going to talk about something relevant to all of us as Americans--the recent Government shutdown        Now I realize that you guys are probably sick about hearing about this from talking heads related to media on both sides. Because of the advent of cable T.V., the news media doesn't work hard, but they repeat the same thing over and over again. They treat us like Five Second Tom from Fifty First Dates.  Five Second Tom is an individual that we meet in the care facility with a five-second memory and re-introduces himself every five seconds. The media treats us, the American people, as if we don't comprehend what they t...

It falls again. It's been a while since I've written because I'm back in school, and that comes with the Fall and along with another great American past time, that being NFL. The National Football League is one of the most talked-about things in American life. Sports, in general, play a significant role in American culture. The sports phenomena units people that frequently have very little in common. There is a spirit about competition in the sports arena that is hard to find anywhere else. However, usually, one group of individuals who are not associated with sports or at least disability in sports doesn't come to mind simultaneously in most people's minds. The disabled are not that different from anyone else, though, when it comes to their love of sports.        Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am an avid New York Giants fan, and I often yell at the T.V. when they screw up (which happens to be a lot this season). I am also a die-ha...

       As human beings, we have an inherent desire to achieve independence, and it is only through social contracts in societal constraints that we enter into communities with others. This is a very simplistic way to put human beings’ desire for independence into words. However, it often right that this desire often comes with conflict relating to society and everyday constraints. Some groups face different conditions. Like for example, the restrictions placed on the disabled community are more prominent.         When it comes to disability, I have a unique perspective. I’m a twenty-seven-year-old male who relies on others for most of my physical needs to be met. When I say that I rely on personal care, I include such tasks as showering, eating, dressing, and even moving from a supine position in bed to a functional upright position in my wheelchair. Those in the aide care profession are crucial to my life,...

       Hi guys. This blog will go a little off format. I know this blog is designed to talk about disability issues, and this one will cover a few personal details as you all seem to have responded well to the last blog, where I told a little bit of my personal story. That gave me the idea for this one.         A new school year is about to begin. My baby sister is finally growing up! She moved into college dorms this weekend, and that hit me interestingly. I know it's not a very good description, but it's the best way I can describe it. I have two Bachelor's degrees, and I'm working on my third. People think that's so impressive and amazing, but I look at this little seventeen-year-old genius (yes, I said seventeen), and I wonder, what am I doing with my life? She is already certified with 90 hours of preschool assistance that translates into some certificate in Maryland. Sorry, Kim. I don't remember all the d...

  “On the one hand, she was viscerally aware of what polio had done to her body and of the day-to-day realities of living with a disability. But she was also aware of what she called “a gentleman’s agreement” at home and at school to pretend that her disability didn’t exist.”         This is a quote from chapter 1 of Fred Pelka’s book  What We Have Done: An Oral History of the Disability Rights Movements.  This particular quote is a part of the Childhood chapter, and he’s introducing Corbett O’ Toole. In the pages following this quote, Corbett O’ Toole’s interview describes a fundamental problem still relevant in society today--that of identity.         As we progress from childhood into adulthood, we struggle to find our identity. We strive to no longer be perceived as so-and-so’s child but rather our independent person. This is no different, no matter your race, religion, sexual orienta...

So it’s been a while since I’ve written. I can’t say precisely why, but recently I’ve gotten inspiration back. I’m reading a great book by Fred Pelka, the first global history of the Disability Rights Movement that is actually told by people there. It is called  What We Have Done: An Oral History of the Disability Rights Movement . This book does a great job of two things: teaching someone who is disabled more about their movement because, sadly, I am not well informed, and secondly, backing it up with scholarly research. However, it’s this book and recent conversations that have caused me to write this blog.         There are several perceptions of disability but one perception of disability that irritates the disability community and me in particular. Fred Pelka has the medical model of disability. Rather than using this technical term, I refer to it as the “need to fix what is not broken.” Often in my life, I have encountered both person...