YOU WALK LIKE YOU, I WALK LIKE ME AND WE'RE BOTH OK

Republicans seem to think that treating everyone exactly the same is somehow "equality" while treating anyone in any way differently is somehow inequality. OK, so we ask the blind to read the printed word and the deaf to listen to the spoken word? Obviously, this is absurd. I'm not saying the blind and the deaf do not have minds as sharp as anyone with sight or with hearing, but obviously expecting them to do everything in exactly the same way that a sighted person or a person who can hear does things is ridiculous. So is expecting someone in a wheelchair to get in and out of or move within a building without ramps and or elevators. The point is that treating differently abled People exactly the same as totally able bodied people and expecting them to be able to function at the exact same level as they can with brail, ramps, elevators and the like is simply not going to work. Something Republicans/Conservatives should think about before they take away the Protections of The Americans With Disabilities Act in the name of Equality. We are all different, and those differences, including differences in Ability, should be celebrated, not ignored to make everyone be treated exactly the same regardless of Ability and calling that somehow Equality, so that you walk (or 'see' or 'hear' or any number of other activities)like you, I walk (. . .) like me, and that's OK.

CONSERVATIVE CASH COUNTS MORE THAN PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES' LIVES

Does Cash mean more than Life? To Conservatives, apparently so, since they do not think State and Local Governments should have to spend any money at all making their facilities accessible to people with Disabilities, even though there are many Conservatives With Disabilities. And make no mistake, if they could find a way to keep The Federal Government from needing to spend money on making its Facilities Handicapped Accessible as well, they would do so in a heart beat, but unless they can totally undo The Americans With Disabilities Act, which there is absolutely no doubt whatsoever they would like to in reality as they did in 'KEEP THE UNPRODUCTIVE OUT OF SIGHT AND OUT OF MIND' published on this blog sometime in late September, they cannot stop this money from flowing. But do not be under any delusions that if they got the chance to undo it they would not jump at the chance, because they would do so, since to them money spent on such facilities is a waste of money. They would rather have People With Disabilities waste away confined inside their homes than spend money building and keeping up ramps and other infrastructure for People With Disabilities, because Conservatives Consider Cash More Important Then The Lives of People With Disabilities, it is as simple and yet stunning as that.

WHAT IS NORMAL

Normal is a word that can be used both to unite and to divide or even destroy. As a character in one of the Star Trek movies once put it: "Normal is what everybody else is and you are not." I have always thought "you" could mean anybody, not necessarily just the character whom he was addressing. People with Disabilities are often talked about and thought of as being "Not Normal" because there is something different about the way we move, speak or think, or a combination of these. It is true that a person in a wheelchair does not move exactly like a person that can walk, or that a person with a Mental Disability may approach the world differently than a person without a Mental Disability. But if we say such differences makes the person "Not Norma" we are stripping them of their personhood. And if we seek to eliminate Protections that ensure Equality in Access and General Treatment of People with Disabilities, we are declaring them outside the mainstream of society and in some other category of being and so declaring them "Not Normal". Something the advocates of restricting the scope of The Americans With Disabilities Act or even getting rid of it entirely might want to think about before taking any further action in this destructive direction.

SACRIFICING DEMOCRACY TO SAVE MONEY

All we ever hear from Republicans when it comes to programs and infrastructure that could actually help people is that we can't do that because it costs too much money. We can't Do Food Stamps because it costs too much money. We can't do Health Care Reform because it costs too much money. And certainly, a lot longer than the later, we've been hearing about how forcing Public and Private Buildings and other Facilities to be accessible for People With Disabilities costs too much money. That State and Local Governments and Private Businesses should not have to spend the money to install and maintain facilities to make themselves handicapped accessible because it will cost them too much money and so they should not have to do it. An interesting theory, but maybe taking another look is warranted. A private business will have to spend some money to install and maintain facilities fr People With Disabilities, yes, but if they fail to accommodate Potential Customers with Disabilities, at least those Potential Customers, and most likely also their family and friends, will simply take their business elsewhere, and this does not have to happen with too many potential customers before the business is losing more money than it is saving by not having facilities for People With Disabilities. State and Local Governments would spend money to make their buildings Handicapped Accessible yes, but if Citizens with Disabilities can not communicate directly with their elected Officials, then those officials will not be able to represent their interests and concerns because they will not be aware of them, whether those concerns are related to The Rights of The Disabled or not. If this happens, the officials are not representing all of their constituents and so such places are not truly having government of, for and by The People. Thus saving money by denying access to People With Disabilities shakes the very foundation of our democratic republic. Something those that place saving money above ensuring equal access for all might want to think on before acting or speaking rashly.