Equality

I sit at my computer and cry.  I am whipped.  I am so tired that I can hardly move.  The only part of my body that will move is my fingers.  My thoughts never stop whirling so I do the only thing I can.  I type.

While I type I am listening to the recording, "All representatives are assisting other customers.  Please hold the line.  Your call is very important to us."  I am on hold with the Social Security Administration and I can't leave my phone to do other things.  I have been on hold for 30 minutes.  In reality it doesn't matter anyway because I am losing my will to do the things that need to get done.  I pat myself on the back for at least getting one thing done and that is this particular call is so I don't lose my benefits.  I might be holding all day.

So while I sit and listen to the taped message over and over and over, my mind wanders to the subject of equality.  What is equality really?  It can be said that we all want to be treated as equals.  It doesn't matter of sex, creed, religion, choice of who you want to marry or equal pay.  My mind wonders to the thought of equality for those with disabilities.

Today is the 23rd Anniversary of the American with Disabilities Act.  The ADA was signed into law by President Bush "to eliminate discrimination against citizens with disabilities in the areas of employment, transportation, telecommunications and public accommodations."  The underlying theme to me is the act of treating people as equals.  My heart sinks because the missing word in this law is education.  Where are the civil rights for our kids who are in the school system?  I say this because every time Sam was restrained and put in a seclusion room I tried to call the Center for Disability Rights and was told, "I am sorry, we can't help you."

This entire train of thought started while watching the movie Lincoln and I listened to the words during this particular scene of the film, "Do we choose to be born?  Are we fitted into the times we are born into?"  My brain starts churning as I continue to hear, "Have you ever heard of Euclid's Axions and Common Notions?  Euclid said that it is the self evident truth that things which are equal to the same thing are equal to each other.  We became with equality, it is the origin that is balance, that is fairness, that is justice."

I don't know much about Euclid but I guess his discovery is very important.  In reality I have no clue what I am talking about.  I don't know anything about mathematics, mechanics or anything related to engineering.  What perked my ears was, "things which are equal to the same thing are equal to each other."  It is self evident that the film was making the point that Lincoln thought that all races were equal.

Again, I think of Sam with his disability.  He was born into this world with the American right to be treated equal.  But is he really being treated as an equal and an equal to who?  We are all different.  Am I asking for him to be treated equally in the education setting?  Well, if he was truly an equal he would have to be treated equal which means he wouldn't get the services that he receives.  When he turns 21 I am going to fight as hard as I can for him to receive a job coach.  Do all people receive job coaches?  Obviously, no they don't.

Lincoln fought to abolish slavery.  The film was successful in humanizing a man who wanted equality.  The people who sat and protested for the Civil Rights Law were the same kind of thinkers as Lincoln.  I am the same thinker as these folks.  For me it isn't about equality.  It is about civil rights and we all have them.  My son has them.  I will make sure that his civil rights are enforced whether it is written somewhere or not.  I have so much to learn and maybe someone knows where it says that my child has civil rights to be treated fairly in the education system.  Restraints and Seclusions and the use of brute force is not fair.

I had one more thought about equality.  Sam and I live in the United States of America which is the melting pot of all cultures.  Individuals diagnosed with Autism are forming their own culture.  If you think about it, this makes sense because one in 150 are diagnosed with Autism.  That is a lot of folks who are trying to be treated fairly.  This is not only a United States issue, it is a world issue.  How many times does the Autism Culture say that Autism is like a Mac compared to a PC.  It is a different operating system.  It is Temple Grandin who coined the phrase, "Different not less."

I conclude with the question of equality.  How can Sam be an equal if he is different?  It is Sam's civil rights that I am concerned about.

In fairness I will say that the equality that I will fight for is for Sam to be treated equally as in equal pay, equal rights as in the right to vote, ect.

In the film, Lincoln asked if we are fitted into the times we are born into.  I sure do hope so.  It is my fight for my son to have civil rights and equal rights in the classroom.  He has an equal right to be treated justly and fairly among all the other children in the education system.

Definition of Mental

1. a: of, relating to, or being intellectual as contrasted with overt physical activity.

2. a: of, relating to, or affected by a psychiatric disorder <mental patient>.

b: mentally disordered, mad, crazy.

I choose being an intellectual as my definition of being mental.

*The photo that I use for my background was taken by Sam.