My Word!

By Raymond D. Cohen

In spite of the many advances witnessed during the UN-sponsored International Decade of Disabled Persons, the numerous initiatives designed to create physical access in our buildings and our cities, the various efforts at creating employment equity, and other legislative initiatives, it is clear that a basic lack of understanding as to the true nature of disability still pervades our society.

People with disabilities remain marginalized, even though much of the necessary physical, legislative and technological infrastructure is now in place to provide accommodation. People with disabilities remain marginalized because the greatest impediment to their full participation has not been adequately addressed -- public perspective.

This is well evidenced by the general reaction to the Robert Latimer case. Tracy Latimer, who had cerebral palsy, was killed by her father at age 12. This act has been widely been regarded as a "mercy killing." The prevailing attitude seems to be that Tracy, as a "disabled person" who was "suffering" from cerebral palsy and was "confined" to a wheelchair, was better off dead.

Had this situation involved a person, child or adult, from any other group, mainstream or marginalized, the public outcry would have been much different. Imagine, if you will, the taking of a life of a person of colour -- as "an act of kindness" to spare him or her the pain of discrimination! Note, if you will, the recent public reaction to the homicide of two able-bodied children by their mother in the United States. What a marked difference between the hue and the cry for justice in that situation versus the "controversy" created here in Canada, as intelligent people on both sides of the debate consider whether or not Robert Latimer was justified in taking his daughter’s life.

All of this is simply to offer what is perhaps the most vivid recent example of our society’s skewed perspective on the lives of people with disabilities. There are many other less extreme illustrations of a Canada which, in spite of the best efforts of people with disabilities, legislators, social policy researchers, clinicians, and countless others, remains insensitive to the reality of being a person with a disability.

This lack of appreciation, this basic ignorance, culminates in the continued marginalization of people with disabilities, often preventing full participation in the workplace and in many other mainstream facets of the community. The perpetuation of a "lose-lose" situation is assured as people with disabilities are discouraged from full participation -- and mainstream society is prevented from realizing the benefits of this growing segment of our population.

It is, in large part, the players in the media who must take responsibility for the prevailing public attitude toward people with disabilities. Every time a news broadcaster refers to "the disabled" or "the handicapped" (versus people with disabilities), someone who "suffers from cerebral palsy" (versus someone who has cerebral palsy) or someone who is "confined to a wheelchair" or "wheelchair-bound" (versus someone who uses a wheelchair), the stereotypical public attitude toward people with disabilities as victims is reinforced.

Most of us are subjected to a lifetime of media messages depicting people with disabilities as leading lives full of suffering and confinement. It is, therefore, little wonder that a sympathetic light might be cast on the actions of a Robert Latimer. Additionally, members of the media too have been subjected to the same messages over time: messages depicting people with disabilities as cute poster children, heroic athletes or, especially most recently, pitiable cripples.

It is the contention of the Canadian Abilities Foundation that the media, through the printed word, television and radio, could be just as effective at dispelling the destructive and limiting stereotypes as it has been in reinforcing them over the years. Further, our organization takes the position that people with disabilities, their friends and their families must get involved. Active participation is critical if we are ever to achieve a truly inclusive society.

Speak out! Whenever you see or hear messages that you know are wrong -- particularly when those messages come to you through the public media -- write to the newspaper, radio station, magazine or television source reinforcing the myth of disability as illness, or people with disabilities as pitiable victims.

In this edition of ABILITIES we bring you two articles referencing the Latimer case. Each speaks out on a slightly different issue: Jim Derksen’s "Deadly Compassion, Fearsome Kindness" in the Council of Canadians with Disabilities section of ABILITIES eloquently defends the right to life that was criminally taken away from Tracy Latimer. And Joe Coughlin’s "Open Season" condemns the media portrayal of Tracy’s situation. We also present a special feature, "Confronting Violence Against Women." Women with disabilities are at high risk of being sexually or physically assaulted, and yet the silence around this troubling statistic may, again, be perpetuating the common public attitude that people with disabilities are second-class citizens, that their rights don’t count.

The rights of every one of us DO count, which is why it is critical that you make your voice heard. It is only through communication, and demonstration, that we can assist and empower the Tracy Latimers of the years to come.