The Bitter Truth

[Guest guest]

The Bitter Truth P. Shriver

Last week, New York Times reporter, Danny Hakim discovered the unmistakable

pattern of a crime -- the suspicious death of Carey, a series of

questionable actors who were close to the deceased at the time of his death, a

string of denials by those close to the scene, refusals by those same actors to

speak on the record, and a medical report that points to foul play. What may

have shocked readers however, is that the crime was not discovered in an

underworld mob family or in a drug cartel but among the State of New York's

caregivers for people with intellectual disabilities.

Did the State of New York kill Carey?

Probably. Carey was a 14-year-old with autism who was under the care of the

State. The likely perpetrator was an employee of the state. The denials are

coming from leaders in the state. The outrageous likelihood is that the State

did kill Carey. And the even more stunning reality is that such a

crime against a person with intellectual disability is far from rare around the

world.

Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that New York is just

the tip of the iceberg. After 30 years of bypassing the health of people with

disabilities, the WHO has now reported what has been obvious to people with

intellectual disabilities around the world: people with disabilities are an

enormous and growing population and their care and support is in crisis. The

medical profession is ill equipped to care for them, governments are largely

ignoring them, and most interventions designed to help promote public health

and education fail to reach them. In most developing countries, care is

abominable. Carey's tragic death from neglect and mistreatment is

almost certainly being repeated daily around the world.

How is it possible that more than three decades after the United States began

to desegregate schools for people with intellectual disabilities, more than two

decades after the United States passed the Americans with Disabilities Act, and

five years after the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of

Persons with Disabilities, a massive dignity deficit remains? The bitter truth

is that subtle but persistent discrimination against people with intellectual

disabilities remains rampant around the world. Sadly, most people still

perceive a person with an intellectual disability as incapable of contributing

to his community and thus, treat her as a liability that is all too easily

ignored. The language we use is revealing: they are " in-valids " , " retards " ,

" dis-abled " .

It's a short distance from that type of discrimination to abuse and even

murder, but it's an equally short distance from empowerment to dignity. In

recent months, the eyes of the world have been mesmerized by courageous

activists in the Arab world as they seek to validate their own dignity in the

face of oppressive regimes. They have deployed novel tools -- Twitter,

Facebook, and other social media -- to carry out a new kind of social

revolution: a Dignity Revolution. The most compelling message of those protests

wasn't about technology or even about political parties or economics. It was

the sign held by a single Libyan man carrying his homemade sign reading, " Ana

Rajul; " in English, " I am a man. " He had caught and was spreading the dignity

virus.

I wish I had his name so I could make him an honored guest at the next stop on

the Dignity Revolution, the largest gathering of people with intellectual

disabilities in the world, the Special Olympics World Games in Athens,

beginning July 25th. There, 7,500 people of all ages from nearly 180 countries

will return to the home of the ancient Olympics to compete in sports. But make

no mistake. They are also coming with an unmistakable determination to lead a

dignity revolution all their own -- to attract government leaders, health care

professionals, educators, sports organizations, educators and perhaps most

importantly, average citizens of every age and color to their own global

movement. Their goal is the most difficult of all revolutionary goals: to

change people's attitudes, to open people's hearts.

But nothing less is sufficient. Changing laws and rules is necessary but not

sufficient. Desegregating spaces or organizations has never been an adequate

response to fear and discrimination. Adopting conventions and improving funding

formulas has never been enough to change the way people think and feel. For

those who seek dignity, governments and their structures are often an obstacle

but they are rarely the totality of the solution. The real engine of acceptance

and dignity is your neighbor, your classmate, your colleague at work.

Governments can't force them to think more openly or to see dignity more

universally.

The real source of Carey's death is us -- all of us who have

considered him and his fellow human beings with intellectual challenges to be

less deserving of dignity. The real source of the world's most powerful revolt

against that long and painful history of indignity is the voice of empowered

people with intellectual disabilities. They aren't as likely to have as many

articulate representatives as other groups -- or a sophisticated social media

infrastructure behind them, but they each proclaim " Ana Rajul. " They have open

hearts, courage in their attempt to be seen, and most stunningly, a magnetic

authenticity. Theirs is a dignity revolution unlike others, destined to reshape

not just the laws of nations, but the hearts of people.

If the world listens, tragedies like Carey's death will become less

likely in the years ahead. Joining this dignity revolution would be the only

reasonable way to pay our respects to his short and undignified life.

Bedard, PLA

Ricky, andra and 's Mom

Mothers on a Mission, Inc.

6515 Stanley Avenue #4

Berwyn, IL 60402

708-217-3196

www.mothersonamission.net

www.noewait.net

" Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for

the worst of them all -- the apathy of human beings. " - Helen Keller

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