Why It Takes More Than A Disabled War Veteran and the Mother of a Child With a Disability To Win My Vote

by Treadmarkz,

I have encountered fellow citizens of the U.S. who were shocked that I would not be voting for John McCain/Sarah Palin in this year’s election. Astounded, really.

“Don’t you think Sarah Palin, as a mother of a disabled kid, and John McCain, as a disabled War Veteran, would do everything they can for disabled people?”

I have endless respect for McCain’s sacrifice in War, and I know from listening to my mother talk about raising me what Palin must go through to get her child what he needs to live the life she wants for him. So this is a valid question. Sure Palin is the mother of a child with Down Syndrome. But I don’t know what she would do as a leader. I mean if my own mother were in the White House, I have a good idea of the laws that she would want changed and I would trust her judgement. But I don’t know enough about Palin to know if I trust the things that she would have pushed for as VP. And nobody can know what’s best for all the different kinds of disabled people. So you have to vote for the overall best choice you have available. And I believe I did.

And besides that, any change that was made on behalf of disabled people would have to be voted on by the law-making bodies of our government, not just installed by Palin OR McCain. I know that is how it works under Bush/Cheney but we are back to reality now. In that respect I know that disabled people are just as well off under Obama as we would have been with Palin or McCain.

I told the person that asked me this that sometimes it is better if people that have a little distance from the issue make the decision. And what I meant was that if we want this to be a fair and balanced country, the laws and “changes” need to be made by people without self-interest in the issues.

And speaking of self-interest, despite an earlier posting in which I noted that Obama was the only candidate that mentioned disabled people on his Web site, I know that there are issues that are infinitely more important to this country than whether I get accessibility to certain buildings, etc. Such as the issue of whether I get to keep getting my health care for free while others don’t have health care at all. Such as whether my president is going to stop or continue isolating us from the rest of the world. Whether he is going to take the time to read the CIA reports about potential attacks. Whether my president is going to make education a priority for everyone. Whether he is going to tax the people who have the money to spare (the facts don’t lie, if you actually paid attention to what McCain and Obama were saying). The list goes on and on.

The point is that I am a citizen of this country and I care about the things that everyone else does. So it took more than two people with direct connections with disabilities to get my vote. That is why I voted for Obama.

When You Have a Tank-Wheelchair, You Can Pretty Much Do Whatever the Bloody Hell You Want…

…in fact you could probably go ahead and tell the ADA itself to go get…..lost.

by Treadmarkz

I think that anyone in a wheelchair has had days when they wish they had a chair like this one. Forget wheelchair accessible parking spots, forget worrying about finding a ramp. This chair would pretty much allow the user complete and total freedom, not to mention authority. You’d turn from a worrier to a warrior pretty damn quick, that’s what I’m trying to say.

    The only downside is that with a chair like this, should the U.S. Government decide to reinstate the draft, people in wheelchairs would no longer be ineligible. Take a look at the link above.

PS: In all seriousness, I do have tremendous respect for the ADA and what it has done for those of us with disabilities, and am grateful for those who fought hard for it.

Wheelchair Bomber Gives Media New Category For Disabled: Martyr

by Treadmarkz

People in wheelchairs are being used by “insurgents” to carry bombs to blow up their enemies in Baghdad. Apparently this is the third such wheelchair attack in the area this month. No word as to whether they were willing participants, or whether they were truly disabled, for that matter.
But a terrorist is a terrorist and this just proves once again that they are always going to find ways to commit their dreadful acts as long as there is hatred, and as long as they see reason to do so. And THAT, my friends, is why TALKING with our enemies may actually work better than bombing to try to kill bombers. It’s not as ignorant or naive as the Clinton campaign may make it out to be. Will it work with guerrilla warlords? Who knows, but I am getting tired of hearing about so many people being blown up.

Wheelchairs, not WMDs

by Treadmarkz

I hate the war our country is undertaking in Iraq, and I wish it didn’t have to be, and I hope that with a new administration, we will find a sensible solution to bring this sad chapter to a close. But I find some consolation in this story, even if it does appear on the Operation Iraqi Freedom website, which may suggest to some that it is just a chunk of pro-war propoganda. But these soldiers are real people, and it can’t get more real for the people to whom they are bringing these wheelchairs. As small a gesture as it may seem, certainly it meant the world to its beneficiaries.

I’ve heard people (who REALLY hate the war) say that any humanitarian effort toward the people whose lives the war has destroyed is too little too late, but really, what else can they do but try to make things better?