Opinion: Palin doesn’t speak for people with disabilities
February 22nd, 2010
Lennard Davis, writing at Huffingtonpost.com about the flap over “Family Guy,” says Sarah Palin misrepresented the show’s meaning in an effort to “attack the left in any form.” Far from being a slight on people with disabilities, Davis said, the episode “serves to show us that we can’t and shouldn’t underestimate people with Down syndrome.” An excerpt:
Tellingly, she didn’t mind Rush Limbaugh use the R-word, saying is was just “satire.” Satire? What is Family Guy? Greek tragedy?
The moral of this story isn’t that Family Guy is an insensitive show; it’s that Palin is using Trig as a hostage to shield her from the shoot-out of the last election. With Trig in tow she’s not the incompetent former governor of Alaska or the incendiary anti-wonk, she is simply the good Mom protecting her child and all people with disabilities.
If Palin really cared about people with disabilities, she would be supporting health care legislation and stronger enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act. But then that would be more of that “hopey changey” stuff she ridicules.
Lennard Davis is professor of English, disability studies, and medical education at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
(Photo from www.lennarddavis.com)
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February 24th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
Vince, I think the Fox news network who has rightfully earned the noble “media elite” status recently due to their rather large following has been very supportive of her message which was “quit picking on the less fortunate.”
Is this what you mean by advocacy? What has she done that puts her in this distinguished category of “leading advocate?” She had a baby and she is very proud of him. Can’t disagree with you here. But as real advocates, aren’t we spinning our wheels using the spotlight on something we have no control over?
And what about Andrea, the actress who dared to portray a cartoon having DS and uttered those infamous words “my mother is the former governor of Alaska..”
Here’s a great opportunity to tell a real life story and it’s been overshadowed because Ms. Palin thought people were making fun of her son?
Why didn’t Sarah apologize to Andrea for accusing her of making fun of Trig or DS? Does anyone here really believe that it was Andrea’s intention to make fun of DS or Trig? Didn’t she say it wasn’t? Why isn’t her word good enough for people? Didn’t she play her part with respect and dignity?
I don’t think people were laughing at DS. I think they were laughing at the absurdity and stupidity of the 2 male characters.
February 24th, 2010 at 11:58 am
Whatever candidate you support is beside the point. This advocacy fight can not turn into a political fight. I so appreciate your years of advocacy! We have to get united on the real issue and not let it get clouded by what side of the fence we are on politically. This is about common decency — the elite media practices from both sides. We have to stand in solidarity against this “satire”. Democrat, Republican, Independents — none of us will take it anymore. Don’t let this become just about politics because it will never change. We have to ask our national support groups and local support groups to stop their politics and get behind us all in a big way and put an end to this. We are the largest minority group if we all ban together. Change is possible if we stand united.
February 24th, 2010 at 6:51 am
Wow, to read Lennard Davis’ article one could certainly think that he is still shooting out from the last election. I may not be a Disability Wonk who writes $150 disability books but as a person with a disability with 32 years in the advocacy field I do have an opinion on this topic.
If anyone is exploiting Trig Palin it is the elite media. They disgustingly use a sweet, adorable toddler to attack his mother. There is no question that Sarah Palin is a leading advocate for persons with disabilities. She is also a mother who must constantly defend her family against a horribly partisan elite media. She has that right and I totally support her in her responses to these attacks.
Disability is one of the last arenas to be used by the entertainment industry as a target for crude humor. Why is it just us who has to take it on the chin and laugh it away? Come on it’s satire. It’s a joke. We will no longer laugh it off anymore.