Alice Wong, Disability Visibility Project - March 3, 2015
This address by Alice Wong, at one of Sunday’s Day Of Mourning 2015 events, is heartbreaking and empowering all at the same time. It’s always tricky to imply, “My life is pretty great so yours can be, too,” but we’re talking about life and death here. Those three kids weren’t allowed to even try.
I still don’t have much appetite for punishment. But the contrast between what life with even the most “severe” disabilities can be, and how hopeless these killers and the news media just assume it is, shows just how far apart and confused we still are about the nature of disability. It’s a vital reminder to the disability community that “disability awareness”, so easily trivialized, really is important. Somehow, we’ve got to penetrate the brick wall between people with disabilities who are happy and glad to be here, and the parents, professionals, and news media who think disability equals suffering and hopelessness.
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