[Ct-nfb] the governor's Thanksgiving message

[Salisbury, Justin Mark]

I think it's interesting, for the sake of discussion, that Dannel Malloy milked his own disabilities for all they were worth during his campaign.  I distinctly remember reading something that said he had to overcome learning and physical disabilities to get through college and that he triumphed over it all to get his JD.  

Justin

Justin M. Salisbury
Undergraduate Student
The University Honors Program
East Carolina University
salisburyj08 at students.ecu.edu

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”    —MARGARET MEAD


________________________________________
From: ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org [ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of Chris Kuell [ckuell at comcast.net]
Sent: Friday, November 25, 2011 4:48 PM
To: NFB of Connecticut Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Ct-nfb] the governor's Thanksgiving message

Ed (and others)

That was a press release from the governor's office which was passed along to me from a friend. It wasn't ever on this list until I posted it. As an update, I sent letters to 4 newspapers in CT, and so far the Danbury News-Times has called to tell me they will publish it. Here's a preview:

Thanks for Nothing

On Wednesday, November 23, Governor Malloy’s office sent out a press release detailing the governor’s Thanksgiving message. At the very bottom, where the disabled reside on the governor’s priority list, he wrote:
“It is bad that some of our fellow residents are afflicted with handicaps that make their lives immeasurably difficult, and leave them hovering on the edges of our society.  But it is good that we have service providers who work tirelessly and selflessly to care for and comfort them.”

Firstly, the term ‘handicapped’ gives us great insight into the mindset of the governor. It’s an outdated term used by those whose only vision of the disabled is for us to stand/sit on a corner with a cap in our hands begging.

Secondly, we don’t want to be cared for and comforted. We want training and opportunity. We want to work and live and pay taxes and contribute to society. We want to laugh and love and make friends, not be shut away so people don’t have to look at us and be reminded of what could easily be them. Thanks to Governor Malloy’s vision for our future, we no longer have the oldest and best performing agency for the blind in the country. There’s no longer a Commission for the deaf and hard of hearing. Services for the bottom-dwellers have been lumped together, buried in the state’s largest bureaucracy, and labeled more efficient. A first step toward cutting services, employment outcomes, and hope.
Thanks for nothing, governor.

Chris Kuell
Danbury Connecticut