Tag Archives: disability justice

Citizen’s Vulnerabilities and the Rights of All in this Society – Part 2 of 3

A Collage of my family life cycle: Hope you enjoy the picture! Image Description: On the Top Left, Brandon's long term relationship, Jessie, next to it is Scarlett Arrow painting in Colorado with finters, next is my mother in Aruba, next is Scarlett smiling in the camera over the summer with purple flowers, Center is my parents smiling in the camera at dinner in Aruba, next to the left is Brandon being himself at a microphone at Eric and Merrill's day before the wedding party in Denver, below Brandon on the left is a solo picture of my Father, below my father is a picture of Eric, Merrill, Mom, and Dad at Scarlett Arrow's baby shower before she was born, next to that is Me, Brandon, and Eric while Eric is a proud new Father at Scarlett Arrow's birth, next to that is me riding Molly last year (my next lesson is Thursday). There is a light blue border, there is a yellow background and some water seen in some parts of the image as well..
A collage of my family and I with my niece Scarlett, my sister in law Merrill and my brother Brandon’s long term relationship, Jessie

Our society created the mindset of the perfect mind and body back when Francis Galton created the word eugenics and the world decided that between Darwin’s evolutionary theory his creation of the word eugenics, that everyone became instantly obsessed with the human genome. To perfect the body and mind is to deny disability and separate from the imperfect human body to create a monster master race of the human genome that everyone will strive to be. This monster master race that everyone has been striving for since the late 19th Century, created the thinking that Hitler wanted to first exterminate people with varying degrees of impairments to eventually exterminating certain races, religions, and other peoples in the Holocaust who he thought society could do away with. I am sorry to say, but the world, created the way Hitler would eventually think about how the human genome, race, and religion. We couldn’t control how some people would interpret this thinking even today. However, this is not the only thing we need to take responsibility for, we also need to take responsibility for many other things throughout history both in our private lives and in the public.

Everyone seems to not understand that trying to perfect a human genome is trying to perfect something that is constantly changing, and constantly moving around in our bodies just like the universe is constantly moving. We are human beings so I understand why many people are obsessed with perfecting (and perfected) bodies and minds. However, perfecting a body and mind, is a very fine line between what we think is autonomy and what we think we need to depend on others for. As we are Human beings who live in this world, we are connected to each other regardless of the way we identify through race, religion, sexuality, gender, or disability cultures. The way we represent ourselves is independent of being human because being human really means that we need to support one another regardless since we all go through the same trials, tribulations, and rewards in life.

Supporting decisions and the way we as individuals experience life is important. The person centered approach most are beginning to learn now, is something that is a part of human nature since the beginning of time. Yet, we have in the past, and in some ways still do, only respect the decisions some people make while others we feel could not make decisions at all and could not think on their own. We need to give everyone the tools to decide and think about what they want  on their own. This thinking convinced many people that their decisions are illogical and not right. Making decisions for one’s life depends on the kinds of decisions we are making. Some decisions we can decide on our own, but many other decisions we need support from people who can help.  In the end, the final decision is ours.

Whenever I make a decision, it not only affects myself, but it also affects everyone around me in society and that’s when difficult conversations persist. These decisions affect us individually in many different ways. If a child rebels against their parents decision to change who they are, then the child and parents must take responsibility for their actions. Deciding on changing the way a person is, also changes the way everyone else feels about themselves. It is important to attribute every decision I make to the way I think about others and life. When I think about who we are as a people, I think about where we came from, and the people in our life that affect what we think. What we think sometimes can hurt who we are and/or other people.

Citizen’s Vulnerabilities and the Rights of All in this Society – Part 1 of 3

J siitting on a rock as he is wearing a blue tee shirt which reads “I have special needs. I keep in the a box and under my bed and then feed them crickets. Today I just showed up with my regular needs just like anybody else.”

My support worker team from my self-directed services: Iona Northern edited this post with me.

Autistic people have rights the way everyone has rights .

Autistic people grow at different paces while others may just grow at the same pace as their physical age. Because of that we are often thought of as less than human, deviant from the norm, and due to our impairments many in society look down upon us thinking we do not have a mind of our own nor are we able to make logical decisions about the life we want. 

Autistic people are vulnerable, and depending on the impairments, that can determine how vulnerable the individual will be. It does not matter if the person is less impaired, they can be more vulnerable. Many think that way because Autistic people feel so many emotions at once, so that at times we either do not know how to use our emotions, we scale inward. or we use our emotions too much. This is considered to be over-emotional, rageful, and illogical. Whichever way Autistic people are, we are misunderstood by society as a whole.

From all of this misunderstandings and misguided ideas of a perception that someone with cognitive and sensory impairments is not capable, not competent, causes one to pause and be grateful that some in society are finally learning  how wrong they have been. The tragedy of this kind of thinking has created a disconnect and unmet need between Autistic people and the rest of society. There are a lot of people who need to take responsibility for causing this rift.

Unfortunately, the mass media has contributed to this by conforming to the ideas of this subjective interpretation. Many people are suffering from a society that lacks understanding. This war against Autistic people is really a war against humanity and human nature. The battle to fight for either correcting the genome from disability to embracing the genome and realizing cognitive disabilities like the way Autistic culture is, is something that needs to be accepted just as many other neurodivergences need to be accepted.

How far do we go to changing the human genome? Is it our right to change the genome that mutates and changes randomly over time? Who gets to say which parts of the genome are bad or not? And, is the human genome really a bad thing as many medical researchers are trying to correct it to make a perfected flawless human being? Is eugenics or genetic counseling really needed?

My feelings as a person who is Neurodivergent from outside the norms of society and as an Autistic person leads me to believe that I often feel like pushing to be who I am while getting push back from society to make me the same as others. The fine line between autonomy and being who we are versus depending on others to conform to the standards of society is enormously thick, yet we need to pull one way and push another to be included in the community. Autism Speaks as an organization has been through a rough war because many people feel their misguided thinking for almost 13 years has been too hurtful to many who feel they want to embrace who they are regardless. This makes me feel that everyone needs to re-think what we have done in the past.

Hope everyone enjoyed this 3 part series of articles. The next 2 parts will be coming soon.

Be around to see the next part!

TheamazinJ

A Poem Called “To Please Yourself is to not think of anyone else”

To Please Yourself is to not think of anyone else,

by theamazinJ

It’s my life,
and no one else’s,
it’s my life,
even when people disagree,
it’s my life,
even if anyone disagrees with me
my whole life too,
it’s my life,
I choose things in my life
for a reason,
as an activist,
as a person who is
committed to human rights,
disability justice,
self-determination,
and with the rights
everyone has of supported decision making.
As a person who
does not like
the way the world is today
from the many discriminations
and injustices that are serving
everyone living today.
From the ideas of
the way society uses
the medical model
to hurt so many people,
and the way
everyone hurts,
not everyone understanding each other,
that because of this
there is disability culture
separate from non-disability culture
and because of this
I saddened to know
that from the two different cultures
not understanding each other,
universal design is not realistic,
and too ideal,
because there are
too many non-disabled people
who think of only themselves
and there are
too many disabled people
that are angry about this,
that can this war over words
really end?
can this war over words really end?
The war over words,
eventually leads to violence,
eventually leads to a tougher life,
and eventually leads to
everyone learning the hard way.
Our lives are good,
as human beings
we have the ability to love,
we have the ability to understand each other,
we have what it takes to serve justice for all,
but many do not want justice,
many are too complacent,
too complicit,
and many just want to live in LaLaLand,
while many just want to think about the medical model
without considering life
and what living life really is like,
even when someone gets a diagnosis,
even when someone seeks surgeries
for that diagnosis,
or even alternative treatments.
Some of these treatments
are imperative and can be fatal if not treated,
while other treatments
are a choice from the person, the individual,
to live their life treated to
live under the current social construction
as who they are without seeking to pass,
or live their life different than who they are
choosing to seek treatment to
pass and please people in society.
Everyone has their choices to make,
the ultimate choice is,
please yourself or please others,
and whatever you please,
there are consequences and rewards,
you just have weigh in on
the choice that best fits your life,
but remember this,
even when you are anxious over this decision,
asking too many people what to do,
and not relaxing and letting things happen,
you still must please yourself regardless.

A Poem Called “The Institution of ‘Trump'”

Trigger Warning: Please read with caution. Trump is created bad ideas and this poem may trigger many. Do please read with caution.

The Institution of ‘Trump’,

by theamazinJ

Trump, Trumponian Era is beginning soon,
the dark ages is beginning way too soon once again,
the ages of ignorance, the ages of backwards history,
an ages of no civil rights laws for everyone
is the beginning of Trumponian Era.
A scary time for me, a scary time for you,
and a scary time for everyone.
It’s going to be scary because
a age of ableism,
a age of racism,
a age of misogyny,
a age of heterosexism,
a age of transphobia,
a age of binary gender,
a age of anti-semitism,
a age of islamophobia,
a age of institutional thinking
for any one who is different than the status quo,
re-creating institutions for disabled people
from cognitive to learning to psychiatric to physical disabilities
to segregation without inclusion,
without The Americans with Disabilities Act and Universal Design
for everyone to live their life however they want to live,
a age of conversion therapies
to change everyone’s brains from the way an individual citizen thinks and feels
regardless how the person think and feel,
a age of creating clones of people,
a age of no creative thinking or inventive thought,
an age of being afraid to express ourselves the way we feel,
an age of black and white thinking and polarization.
we are about to enter an age of searching to create the perfect human being once again
who are white, anglo-saxon, heterosexual, non-disabled males,
where we are leaving behind an age where Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, the Black Panthers, Ed Roberts,
and many other activists fought hard for women’s rights, the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960’s,
the Section 504 of Rehabilitation Act, where Free Appropriate Public Education Act for All was passed,
where the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was passed, where De-Institutionalization began over 40 years ago,
where the Sexual and Gender revolutions happened, where the Early Intervention Laws of the 1980’s began,
where the independent living movement got started,
where The Americans with Disabilities Act was signed,
where the Autism CARES Act was signed and passed,
and now Trumponian Era will try to erase all that and the history behind it,
Instead we need to support getting the Disability Integration Act started,
we need to ensure everyone is respected
regardless of gender, sexuality, disability, race, and religion.
We need to ensure human rights for all,
and we need to do this before it is too late.
We need to remember eugenics did not work,
we need to remember the word ‘genetics’ is similar to ‘eu-gen-i-(ti)cs’,
we need to remember what science means to all of us,
We need to remember to be open to everyone,
away from another age of binary thought,
away from a President-Elect who is too ignorant and too emotional
to think everything through as our soon to be President.
We need to pop the bubble Trumponian Era is trying to create,
we need to cure ourselves from the institution of Trump
who does not want to support disability and difference,
we cannot build walls around anyone,
we need to build bridges around the world,
to ensure we create the justice everyone always wanted,
to ensure everyone can live together,
to ensure everyone is included,
to ensure public education is free and appropriate for every child,
to keep the Affordable Care Act Obama signed,
to build supported decision-making for everyone,
to secure our minds to think the way we feel about inclusion,
to feel about whoever we love in this world,
to communicate our thoughts however we express ourselves
through our physical voice or through sign language or through assistative technology.
To ensure that human rights means disability is respected part of the human experience
because disability is a part of the human experience.
We need to secure self-determination and the choices everyone gets to make every day.
Everyone deserves the right to follow their hearts and follow whatever dreams they have,
because in the end,
we need to all march this week.
We need to march for our revolution,
we need to march for our freedoms that many past civil rights leaders and our founders created
with many of the current civil rights leaders in all of us,
and we need to march for justice!
That is all from a activist fighting with everyone!

A Poem called “Disability, Disorder, or Pathology”

Disability, Disorder, or Pathology,

by theamazinJ

Disability is disorder
in certain circumstances,
Disorder is pathology
when it affects us too greatly,
Disability is disorder is pathology
when it affects us every day
and affects the majority of how we live,
disability is not really pathology
nor is it really disorder,
it just is a reality
we all face at some point in our lives
and every day of our lives.
Impairments affect us in different ways
and at different points in our lives,
while impairments are real
that can affect us greatly.
Impairments:
can be a pain,
can be debilitating,
can be limiting,
can echo our past,
can be our present,
and can affect our future.
Impairments can be fooled
like we can fool ourselves from
whatever impairments we do actually have.
Impairments are,
our general view of what
makes a person a human being.
We all struggle with something,
those struggles
give us the ability to make a decision,
how to do we deal with our impairments?
Some impairments lead to important life choices,
Some impairments cannot pass in a society we live in
no matter what we do,
while other impairments can easily pass
in the modern status quo we live in,
impairments are real,
disability is not really disorder nor is it pathology,
however,
many shared impairments are lumped into disability,
can be crammed into pathology,
which can lead to disorder
when the individual
has no means to controlling the impairments.
However, everyone can make their own decisions
with from very small and/or to a very large choice.
Impairments are real,
disability is real,
pathology is real,
disorder can be real too
when we struggle to create the order
we want in our life.
We all don’t accept we have impairments,
Some actually say they do,
in reality,
it is hard for everyone to realize
what impairments we all have
that affect us everyday,
the more we realize this:
the more the ADA will be more recognized,
the more the ADA will even be enforced,
the more Early Intervention laws will be recognized
from the past,
the more Early Intervention laws will be used by everyone,
the more every child will have free appropriate public education,
the more disability will be recognized by everyone,
the more ‘passing’ becomes a thing of the past,
the more disability will not mean disorder nor pathology,
and everyone will understand the needs of all its citizens,
the more we won’t stare at anyone,
the more we will teach supported decision making to all,
the more we won’t limit our understanding of communication,
the more we hear everyone’s voices with or without technology,
the more we won’t seek out causes of any disability,
the more we won’t want to cure things.
Because in the end,
disability is real, but disability is also important
understanding that
some people can live their life regardless of what impairments they have,
and some people actually cannot and need actual support
in whatever ways they can get it.
Impairments lead to disability which can lead to disorder
which can lead to pathology
whichever the individual citizen
can or cannot be like in the community they live in.
Some say disability makes them badass
while others say disability makes them feel bad,
in the end,
we have to know what impairments
all of us have
make up who we are
as well as the abilities we do have,
some impairments we are born into
while other times we acquire them.
Impairments make us real,
impairments make us human,
no one can deny any impairment they may have
because finally,
we are all human.