You want to make anyone mad these days is bring up why to wear a mask or why not to. There are thousands out there that are no claiming to be medical experts and posting why not to wear a mask. Conspiracy theories to violating civil rights. Maybe we should take the same claim as we do for hurricanes- mandatory evacuation and if you chose to stay, we will not help you. So maybe if you chose to not wear a mask, we don’t provide healthcare? That may be a bit extreme but you get the point.
When it comes to the world of developmental disabilities, we are still fighting for basic civil rights. People who did not chose to be born this way or have a disability sometime during childhood. They do not have the same choices for healthcare, where they live, and what they do for a living.
Don’t believe me. There was a man in Austin Texas recently who was denied care because he had a disability and was COVID positive. Maybe I was wrong when I said that we are in the separate but equal phase of the civil rights movement for people with disabilities. Despite ADA, we still fight for just the basics. Click the photo for the link to the article.
When lockdown started, people who live in nursing homes, group homes, and assisted living facilities have not allowed visitors. So I have not seen my father since March or my brother since April. They are both dependent on the staff to remain quarantined and where a mask in public when the are off duty. Many of these individual have 2-3 jobs because of the low pay rate. What if they are in the group of people who don’t believe this is real? What if they grab a shopping cart at the story after someone who is infected and bring it back to the facility. Click the photo for a link to an article written by a special needs parent.
As I write this, it is the 4th of July weekend. We are the land of the free. Are we though? If you are black, gay, trans, have a disability, Native American, we are still are still fighting for basic civil rights. Rights not to be judged if we are not white. Access to equal health care. (I personally would like the health plan that our elected officials are on). Not be harassed by police because of the color of their skin and for the double whammy being black and have autism.
Normally I am a runner. Things get difficult, I just hide. Whether it is move to another location or find an excuse to globe trot. My husband even picked out a house we can afford in France. (https://www.facebook.com/ForTheLoveOfOldHouses/photos/pcb.2882366075362760/2882361192029915/?type=3&theater)
Now as tempting as that is (and stuck in my head), do I really want to live there? I don’t know. I just want this nation to move on from its teenage years of questioning authority, fighting, and being all about the “me” and move to what about “us”.
