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Autistic Thoughts
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Below are the 2 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Autistic Thoughts" journal:
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03:49 pm
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Ashley All Over Again
Nine months ago, a spokesperson for the British Medical Association responded to the news of Ashley X by stating "If a similar case occurred in the UK, we believe it would go to court and whatever decision was ruled would be in the best interests of the child."
They're going to have to make their ruling a bit sooner than they probably expected.
Not that this should really come as a surprise to anyone who was closely following the news about Ashley.
Katie can't speak, and they believe (or perhaps more accurately, assume) that she understands very little of what they say. To take away the "discomfort, pain, and mood swings", her mother and a team of surgeons want to inflict the discomfort, pain, and possible mood swings of a hysterectomy. Because she supposedly cannot understand menstruation and they believe that the natural functions of her body will cause her unnecessary indignity, they want to subject her to a surgery which she supposedly cannot understand and the unnecessary indignity of an unnatural and painful incursion on her body. She may never marry or have children or know love and consent to sex, but she will know the invasion of her sexual parts without her consent.
This isn't even a "pillow angel" this time, lying in a bed unable to lift her head or roll over. This is a fourteen-year-old girl who loves to go to theme parks and ride horses. She has a family who (supposedly) love her and who take care of her needs, she's described as taking joy in them and in her favorite pastimes- and yet her mother says "her life expectancy is poor". Puberty doesn't have to prevent Katie from doing anything she likes unless her mother lets it- it's not as if there aren't accessible theme parks or wheelchair ramps for disabled horseback riders. This is a disabled girl whose mother is determined not to let grow up into a disabled woman.
This is what comes of the belief that whatever parents of disabled children do to them must be right because "they'd never hurt their child, they love them!". This is what comes of having more sympathy for the caregivers than those being cared for. This is what comes of the infantilization of the disabled.This is what comes of the belief that a life with less ability is one with less quality. This is what comes of the idea that dignity is not something inherent but is something determined on a utilitarian sliding scale.
The United States overturned the compulsory sterilization of the cognitively and developmentally disabled in 1956; the United Kingdom in 1973. I pray that the inhumane treatment of Katie and Ashley does not signify the beginning of a return to those times.
Current Mood:  enraged
Current Music: E Nomine- "Schwarze Sonne"
Tags: ablism, atrocity, cognitive disability, disability rights, medical, sterilization
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02:41 pm
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Can you spare a moment to help save a life?
Considering that I've managed to vastly exceed my normal posting rate and blog at least a little something every day so far this month, I think I'm going to be informally commemorating National Disability Employment Awareness Month by challenging myself to have NaBloPoMo a month early this year. I apologize in advance if this means I end up cluttering anyone's flists.
Today's post was initially planned to be something inspired by a conversation I had about adaptive technology, but then I received a link from a friend for ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) projectdownload and decided that this takes priority. I've thus far been lucky to never have to fight the insurance system for needed medical coverage, nor have I been turned down for insurance because of my disabilities, but there are times when it's been a very real concern. I've seen other people I know be denied coverage and it makes me want to scream or cry every time... it's maddening how so many of the people in this country who need medical help most are the same people who are least able to get it. I didn't have the resources to spare to help them then, but I've at least enough time to spare to download a ~3 kb file once a day to help ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) redscorner.
I can't vouch as to whether or not MegaUpload will follow through on their part of this, I can't vouch that anyone's clicks will actually be counted, but I can vouch that you're not asked for any identifying information and the .txt file won't kill your computer or anything if you download it, and this doesn't feel like Munchausen-by-Internet to me.
Pass it on?
Current Mood: serious
Current Music: Rammstein- "Alter Mann"
Tags: community, disability, linkspam, medical
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