As with most Sundays, I spent much of today catching up on reading material that has accumulated over the week. The New York Times Magazine has a well-written article entitled The Disability Gulag(free reg. req’d.), focusing on the institutionalization, both past and present, of people with severe disabilities. The author, Harriet McBryde Johnson (who has a disability similar to mine), discusses her own fears of entering the gulag in the future. This has also been one of my own private fears. I didn’t realize it at the time, but when I was put on the ventilator my parents were presented with the option of placing me in a facility. They refused (fortunately for me), but there are times when I thought my independence was hanging from a fragile thread that could be severed without warning. Minnesota is one of a handful of states that has a real commitment to keeping people with disabilities in community settings and that has clearly benefitted me. But old fears linger and I sometimes imagine scenarios that could land me in a facility permanently. I like to think that if something like that were ever to come to pass, people would step up to bat to get me out of there as soon as possible. Anyway, whenever I do switch jobs, I think I’d like to play a role in liberating people with disabilities from institutions. Maybe I should even consider a run for some kind of local office in 2004. One thing that disability community needs is a louder political voice. What do you think? School Board? Park Board?
On a lighter note, Time had an article about one of my favorite Sunday night rituals, Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. Most television comedies are unbelievably lame, but Sealab 2021 and Home Movies can make me laugh out loud.
