« Health and Human Resources | Main | Plowing Under and Writing Off »

September 24, 2008

Comments

Brett

Ed,

you say: "To be able to make progress in changing the current laws as they apply to all disabilities within the United States it needs to be understood that we are no longer afforded the luxury of ongoing (seemingly endless), emotionally detached, nuanced, intellectual debate."

You are correct that in order to really get anything done, action - not talk - is needed. There has been a lot of talk over the past years, of which I've been a part, so I'm sure that there are some good ideas on what action needs to be taken. Sadly, I'm personally not sure what action to take.

I understand the general desire and need to have effective laws applying to disabilities, but I don't know what specific laws need to be changed. (I almost hate to admit it, but I don't even know what laws already exist - aside from the main ones like ADA and IDEA - related to disabilities and disabilities rights.) Can you explain, or point me to, the changes that need to be made.

Ed

Hey Brett,

Yeah I could could do that. Let me think about that. I think a lot of the ideas I have and have heard talked about that I feel are important have often not passed the typical political road blocks.

These laws are not made for everyone and often those who are affected the most are least accepted as having a valid opinion. It does actually mean that sometimes that they haven't been as well thought out because they are stopped to early in their deliberation. Then it just sounds to people like a manifesto and people don't listen.

I get IEPs on a regular basis,have seen NAMI and Independent Living Centers created and stolen on a yearly basis for years by corrupt politics, as well as watched the public educational system be ignored through over privatization, but what ever else leads to societal ills can hardly be approached until we see what police and courtrooms are doing about abuse that is often mischaracterized as justice. Some of these things are more immediate so I think it's important sometimes to work backwards to avoid stagnation and confusion.

The people who I've always seen being afforded the most right to work on these problems are doing so from the perspective of looking at them from a distance rather than getting involved and listening to those of us who are most affected by their decisions.

Thanks for asking.Let me know what you think. I know this isn't real specific but I'll post more later about specific laws and the links to them I see as important. The Independent Living Centers and NAMI are in desperate need of change or omitted and/or replaced if necessary and their decisions or organizations akin to them or that spring from them have and will continue to affect the autistic population.

The comments to this entry are closed.