IDC Manifesto: No victims

[Guest guest]

Hello group(s),

The following is an excerpt from a newsletter a good friend of mine writes.

I'll be snipping from it this week.

Debbie

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INSTITUTE ON DISABILITY CULTURE MANIFESTO

August 1999

Number Six

MANIFESTO

(a written statement publicly declaring issues, views or

motives of its issuer--Webster).

MANIFESTOS are archived at:

http://www.dimenet.com/disculture/

For several years now, I've been receiving the GAUCHER'S DISEASE

REGISTRY NEWSLETTER. I've even published articles in it addressing the

importance of the disability movement. I was pleased to note that the

Newsletter's editor was starting to refer to " people with disabilities "

and

to include articles about disability rights and advocacy. But two issues

ago, I was horrified to read two articles concerning a young Englishwoman

with Gaucher's Disease. She was constantly being described, and

describing herself, as being victimized by this disease. Now I'm not

going to maintain that Gaucher's Disease is a welcome guest that should

be greeted with a fervor of hospitality. I'm much too familiar with its

broken bones, heartaches, and physical pain. But I'm also unwilling to

be labeled a victim who has survived its ravages. You see, " victim " has

an ugly connotation that offends--no, enrages--me. Being told, or

believing, I'm a victim places all the responsibility for the results of

the disease in the disease itself. Now I ask you, does a disease feel;

is it cognizant, does it manipulate? As far as I know, disease does none

of these things, but people do. I resent being called a victim because

that implies that I have no control over the way I react to my disease,

to my disability. But the fact is, I do have control. I can decide

whether to succumb to my pain or to adapt myself to it. I can decide

whether I want to grind my bones into pieces or to use a wheelchair for

mobility. I can decide whether to risk passing this inherited disease

onto my own natural children or to remain childless. I can decide. I am

a victim only when I let my disease rule me. I am a person with a

disability when I choose how to react to the characteristics of my

disease. Anyone can choose to be a victim of anything. And anyone can

choose not to be.

Institute on Disability Culture

E. Brown and Lillian Brown, Founders

2260 Sunrise Point Rd.

Las Cruces, NM 88011

stebrown@...

Contact IDC about speaking, training, and writing

engagements!

http://www.dimenet.com/disculture/

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