From the Boston Globe:

In the window of a store in Plymouth, Massachusetts, is a t-shirt with a slogan that’s popular among hockey moms: “Trample the weak; hurdle the dead.” Writer Marianne Leone sees it and remembers her son, who died in 2005. He was nonverbal and quadriplegic; he wrote poetry on his computer. From her op-ed:

How will Sarah Palin, self-described hockey mom, reconcile this brutal ethos with her promise to “be an advocate for parents of children with special needs,” now that she’s a member of that club, too?

… In the warrior culture espoused by self-described “pit bull” Palin, there is no place for the weak. When I saw the T-shirt in the window of [the store], I thought of my son and how hard we had to fight to get him basic healthcare and to enroll him in public school.

Even though the laws are in place for inclusion of students with disabilities, many parents face an uphill battle to implement these laws. Palin supports vouchers, so that parents can “choose” schools for their children.

… In Palin’s perfect school universe, segregation would be the norm for kids with disabilities.

… She and McCain are more likely to continue the brutal and failed Bush policies of trampling the weak and hurdling the dead.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 12th, 2008 at 3:59 am and is filed under Campaign 2008, commentary, Down syndrome, education, inclusion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.