Let Them Eat Cake

SPRINGFIELD – A fifth grade girl with cerebral palsy and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis was allegedly forced to crawl on her hands and knees to and from recess at Bissett Elementary School, according to a story by Sarah Overstreet in Sunday’s Springfield News-Leader.

The News-Leader reported that during a tape-recorded meeting between the family and school officials, the child’s teacher stated that she was afraid the child would fall down, so they made her crawl. The parents complained that their daughter was already being teased and this would make it worse.

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JUDAS PRIEST!

If she can’t walk then let that cripple crawl. This let-them-eat-cake mentality shows how out-of-touch many governmental administrations (from the White House to the mayor of New Orleans) are with the common person. A school, which is mandated to follow federal discrimination laws somehow circumvents those regulations and justifies that x-group of persons are not really worthy of dignity and respect.

And so it goes. Persons with disabilities are treated as sub-humans and not given respect or dignity. The disability always comes first, not the person. Am I to understand that there was no other recourse to ensure the child’s safety but to make her crawl? If she cannot walk alone, then devices such as walkers and gait belts are a perfect solution. They are used everyday in hospitals and nursing homes. And of course one can always use a wheelchair. According to the story she did have a walker and gait belt, they just didn’t want to use it.

Something similar occurred last year when Missouri’s legislature cut the Medical Assistance for Worker’s with Disabilities (MAWD). The MAWD program allowed a person with a disability to have a part-time job, making less than McDonald’s wages, and still qualify for Medicaid. Medicaid being health insurance, not welfare. There is no such thing as getting a monthly check from Medicaid. Persons with disabilities were working, making very little money, paying taxes and filling part time jobs that others would not fill. The elimination of the program forced thousands to quit working so they could keep their health insurance (Medicaid).

By the way, the conservative machine convinced the people that the media coverage opposing the elimination of the MAWD program was nothing more than liberal media “terrorist” scare tactics. On April 15, 2005, Rep. Jim Viebrock (R-Republic) stated in his weekly email address:

“It would be unwise for me to enter a crowded room and yell ‘fire’, yet that is exactly what the press is currently doing with its twisted, slanted and agenda driven articles that I have been reading from around the State. I have felt anger and disgust as I read the gross misrepresentations that are designed to strike fear and turmoil in the most vulnerable of our state residents. I have received countless phone calls and letters from people who simply are acting on pure compassion from articles that present a quadriplegic that is the victim of a horrible situation to be thrown out in the front lawn, yanked out of their wheelchair and left to die a slow and heartless death. Although exaggerated slightly, and I mean slightly, these types of stories are running amuck, striking the same panic and public distress as a terrorist threat. I am appalled at these blatant attempts to push a political agenda by the “free” press.

He went on to say: “Ask yourself, what kind of heartless, cold, sorry excuse for a human being would actually vote to cause pain and suffering for another person? If you are open-minded and honest, you would determine that no one would, and neither have we, Despite what you have read, seen or heard, no one who actually needs help from the Department of Social Services will miss a single payment. No one will be abandoned.”

This year he and the other legislators have changed their tune, realizing that stories in the media were telling the truth and not acting as “terrorists”. Of course, we don’t see them retracting those partisan statements, owning up to the fact that the media was not acting in a “terrorist” manner. Terrorist. He actually accused the media of using terrorist tactics. People were hurt by these cuts, which is why this year there is a bi-partisan support for House Bill 1742 which will re-instate the MAWD program with good changes. And what of the “terrorist” news media? I think it is a shame to make that statement about a group, discover you were wrong and never make a public retraction. That is exactly why we have such low voter turnout. You just can’t trust any politicians

Despite the specific events of these two particular stories, there is a much bigger wrong here at play in the field of the lords. There is a world-wide perception that people with disabilities are a drain on society, that “those” people are “fraudulent” (the buzz word during the Medicaid cuts last year).

People with autism, cerebral palsy, down syndrome, and spinal cord injuries are not deceptive, system suckers, looking to score some suck time at the teat of the Missouri tax payer. They are real people.

Who makes a kid crawl to and from the playground?

What kind of heartless, cold, sorry excuse for a human being would actually vote to cause pain and suffering for another person?

Judas Priest, my friends! Has the world gone topsy turvy? Has compassion taken a back seat to winning for the sake of winning? Indeed, it has.