Category Archives: disab

Criminalize Dehumanizing People with Disabilities

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If you deny someone their equal rights you deny them their freedom, and for that you should face criminal charges.

This happens all to often in the world of disability. I’ve seen it, endured it, fought it, and will fight it until the end of my days.

If you are going to treat someone with a disability as if their humanity is less whole than yours, you should be charged with a crime. If you are going to treat people with disabilities as if each and everyone of them is a cottage industry for you to profit from, same thing, criminal charges should be brought to bear and if you are convicted you can do the community service by going to jail. In other words, leave the community.

I hear many things from many people on many fronts, particularly in the world of people like me who live with brain injuries. Sometimes I can reveal my sources, sometimes not. Sometimes discreetness is the wisest choice, sometimes in your face is. I am willing to play both cards if I genuinely believe doing so will further equal rights and or hold accountable those who willfully deny others their equal rights.

Here is an example that typifies a lot of what goes on. I know someone who lived with a brain injury. She is extremely bright and nobody’s fool. Were she in a coma she could likely outwit 99 percent of the people I know. Anyway, she was attending a day program and made it known she wanted to get a part time job. So the program tells this woman that they will clear out a little office space they have and set it up with candy and soda that she can sell a few hours a week and she can keep some of the money. This woman said to me, “Do they think I’m stupid or what? Do they think I don’t know that the only reason they’re offering this is so they can bill for the hours I’m in selling their damned candy?” In other words, all this Albany-based provider cared about was not losing the money they would lose if this woman had a part time job in the, wait for it, community!

There was a time in life when I believed that in everyone’s heart of hearts there rested an active or untapped reservoir of compassion for others. Wrong. There are plenty of people that simply don’t care, not at all. And they are the ones that need to be exposed,  criminally charged when possible, and given a leave of absence from the community, and if not the community, a permanent leave of absence from working in an arena designed to help people reach their maximum level of independence.

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Notes From an Advocate: Into the Light

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The best way to get rid of the dehumanization of people with disabilities is to expose it as clearly and graphically as possible.

I have told more than one in the field of human rights, I will tell the truth for you, I will not lie for you. There are a few who made the mistake of thinking this was lip service on my part. Not.

As the Kahrmann Consumer Advocacy Coalition grows its membership and hones its purpose, I can tell you that my input will include a consistent push to bring those who deny people their equal rights into the glare of the public eye.

If you deny people their equal rights, you deny them their freedom.

Our current focus is on the survivors of brain injury living in the community who are receiving services in New York from providers across the state. Many of the providers are class acts and do not deserve to have their reputations stained by those providers who are anything but class acts.

Among other things, this latter group of providers engage in what can accurately be called, community-based warehousing. They should be and will be exposed. Although the survivors are living in the community, their lives and what is welcome or not welcome in their lives is controlled by the providers.

One thing I know is this; providers who prevent the coalition from telling the survivors in their programs about the coalition will be exposed.  The question is how best to do this.

Not only does the behavior of the poisonous deny people their civil rights, it denies people their freedom. There is no excuse; certainly not even greed, no doubt the driving force behind much of this.

And so my thought, my mission, is to bring the bigotry into the light.  Fungus never does well when exposed to sunshine.

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You Call Us Disabled…

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How can you say your helping human beings if you don’t think of them as human beings?

My name is Luther Willis and before I get goin’ here I just want to thank Mr. Peter Kahrmann for lettin’ me write this here piece in his blog.

We talked some and I said what I had to say and he smiled and said, “Have it it then,” and I’m damn glad he did ‘cause you might know he has this here bullet in his head and him goin’ off has different meanings, one’ve’m bein’ mighty messy.

Anyway, he said I could have it,  so I’m gonna do just that.

I live with what most folks call a disability but the specifics of it are of no never mind here. The thing is, lots of people call us disabled when most of those doin’ the callin’ are  bad disabled. I mean to say I can’t think of a disability much worse than a mind that can’t see a person’s humanity ‘cause maybe they have a brain injury, or can’t see or can’t walk, things like that. What’s worse is I see and seen people in powerful places makin’ all kindsa decisions about people they don’t see as human.

Might as well be slave owners

How can you say your helping human beings if you don’t think of them as human beings? Seems impossible. And people inflictin’ rules and regulations on the lives of people they don’t know are people. Might as well be slave owners, ‘cause there ain’t much of a difference.

Now I don’t ‘spect New York’s a helluva lot different than other places, though it would be mighty nice if it was. Here in New York you got a health department that has an advisory board it ‘spose to listen to about people livin’ with brain injuries and it does everything with that there advisory board but listen to’em. Then you got a state agency ‘spose to work with this here Independent Living Council and some times you got to wonder if what spills outta that agency ain’t just plain back stabbing schoolyard shit.

Anyway, maybe if people realized all people are people, things might just get better, for all of us. Now what’s so bad about that??

Thanks for readin’ my words.

Yours Truly,

Luther Willis

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