Paralyzed since I was 18 years old, I have spent much of the last 30 years thinking about the reasons why the social life of crippled people is so different from those who ambulate on two feet. After reading about the so called Ashley Treatment I decided it was time to write a book about my life as a crippled man. My book, Bad Cripple: A Protest from an Invisible Man, will be published by Counter Punch. I hope my book will completed soon.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Fox News, John Stossel and a Disaster to Come
I just read over at Planet of the Blind John Stossel, a fierce and long time critic of the ADA, will have a show on tonight at Fox News. Yes, more misleading anti-ADA rhetoric under the guise of journalism will reach millions of viewers. The program airs at 9PM tonight. If readers want to be aggravated and angered beyond comprehension I suggest they tune in. Once calm at some point tomorrow I will post my reaction. And there goes my night--I am sure to be upset as Stossel has chosen to reference Walter Olson and Greg Perry. These two men hate the ADA as much as Stossel--hard to imagine but true.
oh no--well, my blood pressure's no longer low.
ReplyDeleteJohn Stossel is an idiot.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea there were people rampaging against the ADA - blame being Canadian for my ignorance - but... erm... why? You'd think improving life for the cripples would be one of those feel-good things all can agree on. Or is it that it's government-mandated?
I repeat: John Stossel is an idiot.
Lene, I'm Canadian too so I understand your confusion. If you go to YouTube and look for "Bullshit ADA", you should find the Penn & Teller Bullshit episode that goes on at length about how the ADA is ruining small businesses and it's so RIDICULOUS the way silly things are, like, totally disabilities now.
ReplyDeleteAlso, some very big names are anti-ADA, including Clint Eastwood.
When they are being "nice" about it, anti-ADA crusaders tend to go on about how it's nice little disabled people being taken advantage of by the big mean lawyers in sue-happy US. But mostly they just seem to resent that they need to follow laws & stuff.
Thanks for the YouTube tip - I'll check it out.
ReplyDeleteAnd I had heard of Eastwood's stance on it (too bad, he's such a beautiful filmmaker). And it's classic conservative, innit? Anytime the government's involved in telling you what to do, they're against it.
Aye, I've yet to see the John Stossel debacle but I watched the Penn and Teller bit a year or so ago when someone in my department came into the lounge exalting the laurels of those two and how they've been "pointing out the bullshit." When I realized they considered the ADA "bullshit" I had to remind my fellow student that if it weren't for the ADA I would not have an education and I would certainly not be able to attend university.
ReplyDeleteI know my presence in the classroom is resented by a lot of people. A lot of people consider my distracting and even with the ADA I have had to drop a class because of hostilities with a professor over my disability. If it wasn't for the ADA protecting my civil rights I would not be a student at all.
And that's the thing: A lot of anti-ADA people argue that the ADA lowers compassion by forcing people to treat us fairly. Compassion is charity; we would have to rely on the good will of strangers to secure our equal participation. As it stands, we actually have rights.
...dispite how the 2010 revisions of the ADA re: service animals demonstrate how easily said rights can be taken away.
The handicapped would be better financially and morally without the ADA. But most of you are too mentally disabled to understand that simple truth.
ReplyDelete