Today I went to a town hall meeting to hear about how the state plans to deal with these budget cuts in the next years, because it's obvious that the disabled community (and the communities we often get boxed in with, the elderly, and the mentally ill). This was nothing short of a joke.
There were no disabled people, or anyone who could plainly be called mentally ill, challenged, or anything other than senile. It dissolved fairly quickly into out of touch elderly people demanding the city and county workers take massive twenty percent budget cuts, and claiming a ten dollar bicycle license fee would fix this whole mess.
No one mentioned that special education is being cut to make room for physical education, or how public libraries are closing (thats here nor there, sure, but the level of uneducation was mentioned) or that home-care-assistance being cut so much would force young disabled people like myself out of mainstream society. It was even mentioned that home-care-assistance workers should do extra work, or that people should turn to their families and neighbors for help.
Are you fucking kidding me?
I pose this challenge to my disabled brothers and sisters: get out in force and fight for what's yours, or it won't be yours anymore. We have all heard that slogan of use it or lose it. This works the same way with your vocal chords, and your basic human rights. If you are not out there demanding them, and a bunch of old people are... then there's another slogan about squeaky wheels you should learn.
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