Writing in the Kansas City Star, Lisa Cannady says Kansans like her son Pierce must endure years on waiting lists before they can get the government services they’re entitled to receive. An excerpt:

There is something, collectively, in us that has allowed us to ignore the most vulnerable among us. From the waiting list that thousands of Kansans with disabilities have to negotiate, to comments earlier this year by President Obama about the Special Olympics, it is clear that disabled people remained largely disenfranchised. This is the last taboo, the group that it is still acceptable to marginalize.

The ugly truth is that when the needs and rights of people with disabilities are not upheld, when indignities — the big ones and the little ones — are allowed to go unchecked, it tells this vulnerable population that they don’t deserve better. It tells them substandard care and consideration are all that special needs people are worthy of.

As the mom of a special needs child, I am not prepared to accept that as my child’s due. I am not raising my son to sit at the back of the bus.

Lisa Cannady is a social services counselor at Lakemary Center in Paola.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 10:39 pm and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, budget, commentary, public attitudes, stigma, waiting list/waivers. 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.