• COMMUNITY
  • |
  • MY STUFF
  • |
  • DISCUSSIONS
  • |
  • CHAPTERS
  • |
  • GROUPS
  • |
  • PHOTOS
  • |
  • INVITE
  • |
  • EVENTS
  • |
  • FIND OTHERS
Blog Search
Blog Archives
Categories
Blog Latest Comments
Your chair reminds me of my white cane. I am visually impaired, though not legally blind, and just recently got my firs...
by Stefanie on Sunday, January 02, 2011
I am grateful for Laura, Robin, Sharon, Jean and all the other hard-headed women who taught me pride in my disability - ...
by lisbeth on Tuesday, November 30, 2010
I saw so sorry to hear of her passing. She was a very talented writer. My thoughts go out to her family.
by prc_Beth on Monday, November 29, 2010
I worked with Laura briefly in my policy-making work with Medicaid. Voices like hers are essential when trying to design...
by Lesley on Monday, November 29, 2010
I am so heartbroken! I was away all weekend where there was NO INTERNET or cell phone service. I literally just found th...
by WebProducerJul on Monday, November 29, 2010
Page  of  Total Items: 26

firstprevnextlast

Life Support
View All Posts
Laura
Bookmark and Share
The Stories Begin ...
Posted by Laura
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Comments (1)
As I begin this new gig, writing the blog "Life Support" for The Reeve Foundation, the life of the world itself seems in a perilous state. Wars rage, oil plumes spread, whales die, politicians sneak and bicker, businesses pillage, and journalists mostly miss the point.

My own community faces similarly ominous circumstances. Most alarmingly, people with disabilities in California, Illinois, and other states are facing potentially devastating cuts in home care services. When these cuts hit, many people will struggle to survive and function. Some, unable to get by with less help with daily activities, will get sick and be hospitalized, or be forced into nursing facilities -- either outcome ironically costing taxpayers more money.

So what's a blogger to do? Post cries of help? words of warning? action alerts? missives of gloom and doom? Any or all of these may be necessary at times. But I also hope to something different bring to this column: hopeful energy, excitement, even -- dare I say it? -- joy.

I have plenty of personal reasons to sing. I enjoy a fruitful writing life. I have fantastic friends, near and far. My partner and I recently celebrated 20 adventurous years together. We've made a comfortable home, and adopted a daughter, while also finding ways to work for peace and justice and inclusive communities, and against assisted suicide, inaccessible buses and buildings, and the Jerry Lewis Telethon's lies about life in a wheelchair.

In this space I will certainly report on important advocacy issues and -- be ready -- I'll urge you to get involved.

But I also hope to be the bearer of good news -- starting now. Here are a few recent developments that hearten me:

Our people are fighting back. Home care clients and workers are joining together in dramatic demonstrations against their states' service funding cuts. Several dozen Californians have established ArnieVille, a temporary encampment on a traffic median in Berkeley. Each day since June 22, they have rallied, held press conferences and workshops and concerts, distributed information, and lived with uncomfortable conditions and group solidarity. They will not go gently into those nursing homes.

Even in crisis situations, our people rise from the rubble to assert their rights. For example, many newly disabled Haitians, including amputees resulting from earthquake damage, are insisting that international relief agencies listen to them, and provide services appropriate to their needs. They are also challenging their society's traditional stigmatization of disabled people, becoming more visible and more vocal.

Our people are remembering their history. The University of California's Bancroft Library's Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement (DRILM) collection has gathered numerous recordings and transcripts of oral history interviews with our movement's leaders. Another project, It's Our Story, is collecting in-depth video interviews from disability rights activists around the country.

Resisting oppressive rules and systems, our people forge strong and loving relationships as lovers, partners, parents, and communities. On the same June day that my family partied to celebrate our adoption, our friends Nick Dupree and Alejandra Ospina held a commitment ceremony in Central Park, which doubled as a rally against the rules that penalize disability benefits recipients for getting married.

A Note on This Blog's Title

Why "Life Support"? To me, this title carries several meanings. I, like many other myth-defying folks with disabilities, love life in all its complicated weirdness -- and I see nothing wrong with using and insisting on the various supports that make my life possible. For me, these supports include attendant services, a sip-and-puff power wheelchair, a mechanical ventilator that helps me breathe, and a voice-activated computer.

I sometimes hear the words "life support" spoken with negative undertones. People talk as if oxygen, respirators, feeding tubes, and other life-sustaining equipment must always detract from a person's humanity and quality of life. I'm here to make the radical claim that for many of us, such connections actually enhance health, independence, and happiness.

And finally, this blog itself will support life as a political right and as a topic of interest to people with disabilities. As a grassroots health care rights organization once proclaimed, we do have "lives worthy of life," and should not be denied treatment based on either cost concerns or on society's discriminatory attitudes. And since many of our fellow citizens believe we're miserable wretches, I will as a writer commit the powerful act of sharing our daily life stories, which prove that our lives are fun, difficult, diverse, productive, connected, hilarious, heartbreaking -- and as deserving of support as anyone else's life.

Copyright 2010 Laura Hershey
 
  • Visit Roland's profile
    Roland: Life Support means to me:

    C-2 incomplete quad vent dependent
    Family
    Friends
    Employment
    State Agencies
    Hobby - Motorsports
    And many more