Disabled People in Modern Society

[FBay]

Posted: 9/26/15 at 6:18pm

Do Disabled People have a place in Modern Society?  said a friend of mine in a wheelchair.

They also said disabled people should be segregated in a modern society

Updated On: 9/26/15 at 06:18 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 9/26/15 at 7:27pm

No, they should be shunned. 

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/26/15 at 7:52pm

Society says a lot of things that are hard for some people to hear society say like society says you have to be pretty and athletic but some people aren't but society says that's what's important and so they feel left out particularly US   Americans who grew up in what Ronald Reegan called The Great Society. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/26/15 at 8:04pm

Sounds like something a pinto bean would ask 

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 9/26/15 at 8:05pm

This some kind of troll, for sure. 

[FBay]

Posted: 9/26/15 at 8:47pm

Okay I am in a wheelchair and keep wondering if people pretend to respect disabled people or if its just pretend 

 

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 9/26/15 at 9:50pm

Depends on the wheelchair. 

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/26/15 at 9:52pm

 

ADDISON: Your name is not Eve Harrington. It is Gertrude Slescynski.

 

EVE: What of it?

 

ADDISON: It is true that your parents were poor. They still are. And they would like to know how you are - and where. They haven't heard from you for three years...

 

EVE (curtly): What of it?

 

(She walks away. Addison eyes her keenly.)

 

ADDISON: A matter of opinion. Granted. It is also true that you worked in a brewery. But life in the brewery was apparently not as dull as you pictured it. As a matter of fact, it got less and less dull – until your boss's wife had your boss followed by detectives!

 

EVE (whirls on him): She never proved anything, not a thing!

 

ADDISON: But the $500 you got to get out of town brought you straight to New York - didn't it?

 

(Eve turns and runs into the bedroom, slamming the door. Addison opens it, follows close after her.)

 

ADDISON: That $500 brought you straight to New York - didn't it?

 

(Eve, trapped, in a corner of the room.)

 

EVE: She was a liar, she was a liar!

 

ADDISON: Answer my question! Weren't you paid to get out of town?

 

(Eve throws herself on the bed, face down, bursts in tears. Addison, merciless, moves closer.)

 

ADDISON: Fourth. There was no Eddie - no pilot - and you've never been married! That was not only a lie, but an insult to dead heroes and to the women who loved them...

 

(Eve, sobbing, puts her hands over her ears; Addison, closer, pulls them away.)

 

... Fifth. San Francisco has no Shubert Theater and North Shore, you've never been to San Francisco! That was a stupid lie, easy to expose, not worthy of you...

 

(Eve twists to look up at him, her eyes streaming.)

 

EVE: I had to get in, to meet Margo! I had to say something, be somebody, make her like me!

 

Updated On: 9/26/15 at 09:52 PM

[Steve C.]

Posted: 9/26/15 at 10:11pm

It feels like someone is pulling my leg..hmmm? 

Like DiAndre Cole sez on SNL What UP Wit Dat?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/26/15 at 10:47pm

Is the headband again?

[tazber]

Posted: 9/26/15 at 10:51pm

I definitely got a pinto bean vibe from the first post a few days ago.

 

But then who really knows?

[haterobics]

Posted: 9/26/15 at 11:56pm

FBay said: "They also said disabled people should be segregated in a modern society"

 

They are segregated. We give them primo parking, great theater and concert seats, and their own bathrooms.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 9/28/15 at 12:14am

So much for compassion .

[haterobics]

Posted: 9/28/15 at 2:24am

Empty bread, empty mouths, talk about compassion. Not everyone can carry the weight of the world.

[Sugar78]

Posted: 9/28/15 at 1:49pm

This is a bizarre conversation and I can't tell how much is sarcasm and how much is... something else. But as a person with a disability, I'm going to weigh in regardless.  For reference, I'm a lifelong wheelchair user in my mid-30's born with a spinal defect that caused paraplegia.  I'm also fiercely independent, self-sufficient, college educated, and gainfully employed. I don't resent my disability; I consider it to be just another form of diversity that sometimes comes with challenges. Why would there not be a place for me in modern society? 

There is a difference between a "perk" and an accommodation. I actively avoid situations where I'm treated like a special snowflake or with pity simply because I move around in a wheelchair. There's nothing I appreciate more than environments where I can blend in and NOT require something different from everyone else. But there are times when I can either accept an accommodation or I sit at home and let life pass me by. I'm reluctant to share what I'm about to write, but I will because it bothers me that people resent people with disabilities for what they perceive as "perks" that really aren't. I think education and awareness on these things is something that is sorely lacking, and hopefully I can provide some perspective.

Let's start with a "perk" mentioned above that I don't use: accessible parking.  I understand that there's seemingly a lot of abuse of it, which is why some people have sour feelings about the issue. But there are many who absolutely do need it. For example, people who have vans with wheelchair lifts simply cannot park in regular spaces because there isn't enough room to unfold the lift.

Accessible bathrooms... Actually, non-disabled people enjoy this "perk" all the time!  I'd say about 75% of the time when I enter a public restroom, the only accessible stall is occupied while the half a dozen or so regular stalls are empty.  This is one "perk" I have no choice but to use because my wheelchair, even though it's rather small, doesn't fit in regular stalls.  I've learned that accessible stalls apparently make great venues for activities such as extended phone conversations, smoking breaks, sex, and doing drugs.  Yes, I've witnessed all of those and more while patiently waiting outside for a chance to pee.  "Perk", indeed! 

I don't live in NY, so someone please enlighten me on where all these primo accessible theatre seats are hiding!  LOL I'm planning a trip for December, and I'm encountering many shows with already sold out wheelchair spaces, and houses with very few accessible seats to begin with. In venues with such large numbers of seats, how can anyone honestly be resentful over them providing a very small handful of accessible seats for people who can't access 99% of the seats?  I suppose it's less of a problem for people who are local and have more flexibility to go whenever, but for out-of-towners like myself planning a trip to enjoy Broadway can be a frustrating balancing act of finding accessible seats to coincide with dates when we can also find accessible hotel rooms, and hoping all that happens to fall on dates when airfare isn't too ridiculous.  By the way, flying with a wheelchair also involves all sorts of "perks", such as being hauled onto the plane in an aisle chair by employees that aren't always happy to serve, not to mention the dehydration that I go through pre-flight because those "perky" accessible restrooms don't exist at all on planes. 

I'll leave you with the story of the many "perks" I experienced during my first Broadway encounter. The experience started when a friend and I won an opening night contest for a show I was desperate to see (so it started with a real perk, though one unrelated to my disability). Guess what... no accessible seats, so we missed out on that experience (perk?).  Fortunately we did make a trip to see the show several weeks later, for which I'm very grateful because it was a trip that was life-changing for me (and the reason I put up with all the aforementioned challenges so I can experience Broadway). I had an aisle transfer seat, which was fine except my wheelchair had to be stored in place where it took about 10 minutes for my friend to retrieve it after the show. Fine with me, but as I sat there waiting, the man a couple seats down from me got to where I was seated and just stopped, stared down at me, and hissed, "Well, aren't you doing to get up?" I explained that I was sorry I wasn't able to stand to let him by, that my wheelchair was on its way, and I pulled my legs up into my seat to make way for him to get through.  He remained unconvinced, and continued to just stand there glaring at me. This awkward encounter continued until he saw my friend finally coming with my chair. In the shows I've seen since I've tried to get a wheelchair space as opposed to a transfer seat so as not to repeat that fun perk-filled experience (although it's kind of hilarious remembering it all now that a few years have passed). 

So, I would ask that you please not jump to the conclusion that people with disabilities enjoy easy lives with the red carpet rolled out for us when you see accommodations that in reality are usually available in quantities that many times don't meet the need.  Why be upset over the very limited number of parking spaces or theatre seats designated for us?  You don't need to pity us (in fact, please don't), but understand that we really are not getting the unfair advantage that some who have posted here seem to think we get.

 

 

 

 

Updated On: 9/28/15 at 01:49 PM

[haterobics]

Posted: 9/28/15 at 1:54pm

I think this was a silly thread where based on the weird post that started it all, no one had been serious the entire time, except Roxy but he never knows what's going on...

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/28/15 at 2:21pm

Combien de temps?

[haterobics]

Posted: 9/28/15 at 5:42pm

Sugar78 said: "I'm planning a trip for December, and I'm encountering many shows with already sold out wheelchair spaces, and houses with very few accessible seats to begin with."

 

Depends what you are trying to see. I mean, the wheelchair spaces for Hamilton are amazing as far as location, but like everything else related to that show, not very easy to get. I am more used to accessible seating than wheelchair spots, to be fair, since I will often wait a day or so before the show when, if they haven't sold those yet, they sell them as regular seats, and often take a discount code.

 

[darquegk]

Posted: 9/28/15 at 7:45pm

I keep misreading the title as "Disabled Pope on Modern Family" and thinking, man, that show got weird in the interim.