by Roy Exum
posted May 24, 2008
 Roy Exum |
I have gotten e-mails from wheelchair people, although I never mentioned wheelchairs. I have gotten one that asked if I would tell an autistic child strapped to a chair to “cowboy up” and I never mentioned children or autism. I have been slammed by one special-interest group after another and the e-mails keep coming.
One called me a Nazi “because they killed their disabled people first” and another spared little furor over us “red-necks in Tennessee.” Several wished a severe case of glaucoma on me and, almost universally, the e-mails I have gotten are bitter and rancid and full of hate.
So, on behalf of those who are handicapped, allow me to cut to the chase. Today I am convinced, more than ever before, the biggest affliction in this nation among those of us who are physically and mentally challenged is that we whine too much. Nobody likes to hear anyone whine or complain or talk about “poor, pitiful me” and today I know that firsthand.
Had I known the joke about the “seeing-eye dog” would have raised the ire of all the “guide dog” people I wouldn’t have written it. One after another with their special cause has written me and, in most cases, I never mentioned their particular burden. It is unbelievable.
But as I have read the e-mails, and there is physically no way to answer all of them because I type with just my left hand, I have wondered how those who make our laws and guide our nation feel when they are bombarded by a similar collection of whiners? Are you kidding me?
My premise, from the beginning, was that all of us must play the hands we are dealt. The court ruling doesn’t say that for our nation to charge its paper money into different sizes would cost an estimated $230 million, nor does it factor that to change this nation’s 7 million vending machines would add an additional $3.5 billion in costs to be passed down to us, the end-users.
Since the ruling, the National Federation of the Blind – the largest group of its kind in the U.S with 50,000 members - has come forth to take the same tack I set, saying the ruling is “patronizing” and suggests the blind are to be treated as helpless.
Dr. Marc Maurer, who as the foundation president knows well the result of whining, pointed out, ”Hundreds of thousands of blind people use paper money every day without difficulty. We hope this ruling will not have the unintended consequence of reinforcing society’s misconception that blind people are unable to function in the world as it currently is.”
Dr. Mauer, who also knows the power that is found in a clear voice of reason, then got even better when he stated, “Millions of items that cannot be identified by touch must be managed by the blind in business, industry and education every day. We are successfully managing all of these endeavors, and the court’s ruling challenges our ability to do so without any supporting evidence.”
My point from the beginning is that while there is hardly no one who wouldn’t do all he could to help a fellow struggler, there has to be a voice of reason and common sense in what we do for the betterment of every person in this nation.
The way we built sidewalk curbs for those in wheelchairs wasn’t by whining, but by compassionate planning and working together. The way we have made such strides in treating autistic kids wasn’t by strapping them to chairs, but by searching for answers rather than bowing to the howls of misinformed zealots.
Trust me, I am not a Nazi. I am proud of what I have done in my life for those less fortunate and that will not change.
But for our country to continue its march as the greatest society ever known for the way we care for our handicapped, those who are most blessed need to realize their whining does not help at all. I mean, not at all.
royexum@aol.com
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