On Apr 19, 2006, at 3:55 PM, John Adams wrote:
>
> This is the nub of it, isn't it? It's Marta's belief in the truth
> of the first statement--and she's got a point--that activates the
> sentiments of the second statement.
>
> That doesn't make it right--that second statement, it's wrong, it's
> xenophobic, it's counter-productive--but when the left appears to
> bypass one group which deserves our support in order to support
> another, it's understandable when members of that group see that
> (possibly correctly, too) as discrimination against them.
>
It is a form of discrimination but it is more than that.
I've actually asked prominent people on the Left to review disability related matters and have been told "I'm working on more important matters." and put it in writing to me!!!! That is what bunches of you evidently think because you certainly did not mention disability civil rights for years and years and years and years and some still do not to this day. The Nation has been horrible on disability, for one. Those in charge of the publications had plenty of chances back in the 70s when 504 passed to get aboard and then again in 1990 and before that when we were trying to eek out some civil rights protections in the Americans With Disabilities Act. To this day when Lefties mention affordable housing they don't include the word accessible. We are still invisible to you. That's one reason so many in the disability movement don't identify with the Left. We have had to carve out our own political space and become an identity group to get anywhere.
So I have never really understood the omission of our movement by the Left political persuasion. Is it hate? Is it thinking that we are subhuman and not a worthwhile effort? Is it that crips could not possibly do anything for ourselves so you prefer to think of us as in need of your care? I cannot tell you how many lefties have grabbed the handles of my wheelchair and tried to push me without asking, as if they just wanted to take control of my body. I don't need to be pushed by anyone, I have a POWER chair, can't these people see that?
I had to plead with Howard Zinn to include the disability rights movement in his book PEOPLES HISTORY discussion of social movements...he did in the last edition but with no depth to it.
So yes, disabled people ask me all the time why do you bother with the Left? They don't give a shit about us, never have, and think they know everything.
There it is out in the open. That is the hard core truth of it.
And while I am grateful that some people have opened up to acceptance of our struggle and published my work and the work of other disabled people who politically align themselves with you, you still remain in the minority (and in the forefront) of your comrades as far as I can see.
Most all left-activist meetings in LA are still held in inaccessible locations. An exception to this is that Monthly Review moved its meeting from an attic with rickety stairs to the Burns center in Santa Monica. Thank you.
Marta