How
do I feel? The world is larger than the recycled words I can spit out
to try to convince people of disabled people's value. On December 2,
I started my second day of work; on December 2, gunmen shot up Inland
Regional Center in San Bernardino, CA. It was the second mass
shooting of the day. Inland Regional Center served people with
developmental disabilities. I followed a new routine, too tired in
the evening to draft a blog post as my newsfeed exploded with the
news.
Speaker
Paul Ryan announced his intent to push for the Murphy Bill. The
shooters shot up a center to serve people with developmental
disabilities. The Murphy Bill intends to curtail the rights of people
with psychiatric disabilities.
On
December 2, I also received an action alert in my inbox from the Arc.
The Senate was about to repeal parts of the Affordable Care Act –
parts that have helped people with disabilities. On December 3, my
Facebook trending topics switched to Planned Parenthood as the Senate
bill passed their version of the bill to federally defund Planned
Parenthood. A sidenote was that the bill also repealed the Affordable
Care Act, which has helped many people with disabilities. President
Obama is expected to veto the bill.
People
expressed shock and sorrow that someone would do this to a center
that serves developmentally disabled people. People fawned over the
woman who thanked an autistic person for decorating
a cake. Representatives and Senators tweeted heartbreak about San
Bernardino. They've done
their good deed now, right?
*
* *
Please
explain to me how it is a good deed to be objectifying autistic
people into inspiration porn for decorating a cake. There are far
more extreme examples, like having to hold a Day of Mourning:
Remembering Disabled People Murdered by Caregivers because so many
people murder the people they are supposed to be providing care
and/or support for. Then explain to me how people can express shock
that someone shot up a center that serves developmentally disabled
people.
Please
explain to me how it is a good deed to tweet heartbreak about San
Bernardino when Congress just decided to repeal key provisions of the
ACA that would materially help disabled people. Help,
rather than just fawn over someone decorating a cake and think
they're helping, or assigning buddies in class to that poor disabled
kid, or whatever.
Congress
is moving the Murphy Bill rapidly through. H.R. 2646 is the, as
Ari Ne'eman put it, “perversely named” the Helping Families
In Mental Health Crisis Act.
The
Murphy Bill would fundamentally strip people with psychiatric
disabilities of their rights. It would
-
strip HIPAA rights for anyone in treatment with a doctor or therapist for mental health needs,
-
H.R. 2646 will provide more federal funds for institutionalization. This will mean less focus on
community-based
services.
-
This includes cutting the budget for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)'s community integration projects.
-
H.R. 2646 will also encourage states to allow forced-medication programs. These would be through court systems. The best way to help people get mental health treatment is to reduce stigma, make it available, and provide support. The solution is not forced treatment.
It
was introduced in the wake of Sandy Hook in 2013 to manipulate the
public. Don't let them.
Call
or write your representative today. Tweet
at your legislators. Find your rep at
http://www.house.gov/representatives/ and
then use the generic contact us form. Call to the Capitol Switchboard
at 202-224-3121 and ask for your representative and ask them to
oppose the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act (HR 2646).
There
is a federal relay service for d/Deaf
people
listed at the bottom here
http://www.house.gov/content/site_tools/accessibility.php
*
* *
Explain
how the Murphy Bill helps anyone with disabilities. Explain how
fawning over a cake helps people with disabilities.
Explain
how the “good deeds” work then.
No comments:
Post a Comment