Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Tiny Little Mother Mind™ Part One

Tiny Little Mother Mind™, under wraps

I've got two things to say, and they're both reflections from my tiny little mother mind.™

I'm going to break them up into two posts. After reading this, stay tuned for the second one because it has to do with MEDICAL CANNABIS.

The first has to do with the wonderful commentator Van Jones, whom you might be very familiar with as his pre and post-election insights have been sustaining to many progressives. Today I read a good long interview with him in Rolling Stone. It's called Van Jones: Only a 'Love Army' Will Conquer Trump. Here's the thing. I love Van Jones and I love what he's saying. His words have particular relevance to me because I am guilty of spewing my disgust at the current political situation and certainly lumping all those who voted for Drumpf together. I am going to try, try, try to reach out and be more understanding of the varied reasons people voted for this man, however difficult that might be. I want very much to be a part of the 'love army.'

Where my tiny little mother mind™ gets miffed, though, is from this passage:

How do you do that? We're going to do national teach-ins starting very soon – once a week, every week, standing up for the most vulnerable people: Muslims, the DREAMers, Jewish people, women, trans people, black protestors. And once a week, give the whole country a chance to show a whole lotta love – both to demonstrate and deepen a solidarity with those groups, all under one hashtag. #LoveArmy is an opportunity to reassert at a values level.

What are we missing in that paragraph? Anyone? Who's missing? What did my tiny little mother mind™ catch that Van Jones did not, nor Rolling Stone?

THE MOST VULNERABLE PEOPLE in this country includes those with disabilities, particularly those with cognitive disabilities. They are routinely left out of the conversation, as we see in Van Jones' otherwise beautiful, inclusive words,  and while I know this isn't intentional, it's deeply symbolic.

What's coming round the bend with the Drumpf administration and his Band of Billionaires, as well as the usual folks like Eddie Munster et al, is striking fear into every single caregiver of a disabled person that I know and in disabled persons themselves. ALL the systems of care that we rely on, including health, health insurance, scientific research, education, social services, respite, etc. are at risk. These systems of care -- these issues -- help to assert and maintain the dignity and well-being of disabled persons. DISABILITY RIGHTS ARE CIVIL RIGHTS.

I'm not sure what to do about it but keep talking and talking and writing and writing. Will you help me? Will you share this? Will you speak to Van Jones and Rolling Stone and other media outlets that routinely neglect to include the rights of the disabled as worthy? Again, I do not think it's intentional but rather that the disabled have perhaps the quietest voices, if at all, in our country. They are not literally "worth" anything at all -- monetarily. Often they do not have a vote or a voice. Their caregivers are generally exhausted. They have few champions.

This tiny little mother mind™ is begging you to help.

#LoveArmy



20 comments:

  1. Got it. We'll raise our voices together.

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  2. You know I will! Thank you for being a champion for the most vulnerable among us.

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  3. I am terrified of this very thing. Thank you. Thank you my brilliant friend.
    #LoveArmy

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  4. I will be sharing this both via my FB page and my Twitter account. :-)

    Greetings from London.

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  5. I have Shared this and Bravo for an eloquent post, for speaking up and speaking out and giving voice to perhaps the quietest and most vulnerable in our Society and often the most neglected and forgotten. BTW: Adore that Banner Image of the Children!!! Blessings, Love and Merry Christmas from the Arizona Desert... Dawn... The Bohemian

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  6. Yes, I will.
    Thank you for this post.
    It is again so relevant to me.
    Our school system did the exact same thing regarding "what they consider to be" bullying.
    And I quote..."The School Committee, administration, teachers and staff abhor and reject racial, sexual and religious prejudice in any form."
    Notably missing from this statement is of course, the disabled.
    Weston received a text from another student mocking an individual with a disability but since THIS was the official language in the student handbook, it was difficult to prove that this was an act of bullying.
    You are right.....words...or lack of them, matter.
    We are a long way off from public awareness!
    I am with you!

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  7. p.s. such a beautiful photo at the top of your blog of your beautiful children.

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  8. AGREED! On a side note--totally adorable photo of the kids!

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  9. Hi there! I work for the Dream Corps and am part of the team working on the #LoveArmy. Thank you for this post. Leaving out those with disabilities was certainly not intentional. I have a family member who is disabled and understand how terrifying this is for them and all the support that they are likely to lose. This has been on our radar but didn't make it into the article. If you have suggestions for the best ways Dream Corps and the #LoveArmy can support people with disabilities, please share your ideas. We're going to depend a lot on people like you to help guide our efforts and keep us informed. For now, you can submit ideas here: http://www.thedreamcorps.org/lovearmy_action. We'll have more ways to be in conversation in the coming weeks and months. Thank you again <3 Kalia

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  10. I will, but confess I have my doubts that any love ins over the next 4 years will change anything. People weren't scared by the rhetoric of T - they won't care until their friends and neighbors and coworkers are directly hurt and "they" becomes "John" (and maybe not even then).

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  11. I stand with you. I notice that omission all the time, and it makes me crazy. People that consider themselves very inclusive and progressive, routinely omit disabled from their platforms, and casually call people "idiots," and the like. Makes me depressed and irate, but I don't want to be either of those things. Love. Love. and more Love.

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