Jerry the Humanitarian?!

[Guest guest]

So, I may be opening up a can of worms here, but I think others in the

dwarfism community should be made aware of an issue that has been

gaining prominence in the wider disability rights arena for a while

now, Jerry ' Muscular Dystrophy Telethon. Many people with

Muscular Dystrophy and other disabilities strongly object to the way

uses dramatic images of helplessness and pity to beg for money.

There is an entire organization called " Jerry's Orphans " that is made

up of former Telethon poster kids who have grown into adults that

understand how pity obscures and thwarts demands for justice, respect,

and civil rights.

How many of us cringe when someone feels " terrible " that we are LPs?

That cringe is what this petition is giving voice to. The Academy

Awards plan to present with their Humanitarian Award for his

work with the telethon. The petition describes in more detail why

this is problematic and was written by one of Jerry's Orphans. I can

say for sure that everything in it is factually accurate. I know the

author personally and have researched all of the cases she describes

in the petition (I am thinking about writing a dissertation about how

pity harms folks with disabilities, so Mr. provides me with a

lot of material).

Anyway the petition against presenting with the award can be

found at: http://www.petitiononline.com/jlno2009/petition.html.

The full text of the petition is pasted in below.

regards,

Joe

This petition has been launched to object to the Academy of Motion

Picture Arts and Sciences' announcement that it will give Jerry

its Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Awards ceremony on

February 22, 2009.

During his decades of hosting the Labor Day Telethon, Jerry has

helped to perpetuate negative, stereotypical attitudes toward people

with muscular dystrophy and other disabilities. Jerry and the

Telethon actively promote pity as a fundraising strategy. Disabled

people want RESPECT and RIGHTS, not pity and charity.

In 1990, wrote that if he had muscular dystrophy and had to use

a wheelchair, he would " just have to learn to try to be good at being

a half a person. " During the 1992 Telethon, he said that people with

MD, whom he always insists on calling " my kids, " " cannot go into the

workplace. There's nothing they can do. " Comments like these have led

disability activists and our allies to protest against Jerry .

We've argued that he uses the Telethon to promote pity, a

counterproductive emotion which undermines our social equality. Here's

how responded to the Telethon protesters during a 2001

television interview: " Pity? You don't want to be pitied because

you're a cripple in a wheelchair? Stay in your house! "

Jerry has also made derogatory comments about women and gay men.

His outdated attitudes and crude remarks are dehumanizing, not

humanitarian.

Therefore, we the undersigned support the actions and arguments of the

coalition group The Trouble with Jerry. We protest the Academy's

characterization of Jerry as a " humanitarian. " And we ask that

the Academy cancel its plans to give the Hersholt Humanitarian

Award.