Today is the Day!!! Join the Blogswarm against the Telethon!!!
Speak out against Jerry Lewis and his MDA Telethon! Don’t let him put the face on who and what we are. When I was a kid, I remember watching the telethon and getting mad because here was this guy trying to get money by making people feel sorry for us, putting a guilt trip on people so they could give money to help those “poor pathetic cripples” so that a cure could be found. As I said, I would get mad, but my anger was futile because I didn’t know what to do with my anger. I did not know of a Disability Rights Movement, or indeed, if there was one. I only knew that as far as I was concerned, I was fine; it was the world that was messed up. I remember longing for a civil rights movement for people like me, and feeling guilty because I, as an African-American, was born too late to participate in the civil rights movemenr of the day.
At age 21, purely by accident, I stumbled onto a group called ADAPT — and found my home! Here was a group of people of many colors and ages, who looked and thought like me. With ADAPT, I was able to do among many things, something that I thought I’d never do — fight against Jerry Lewis and his Pity Party!
Now here is another way to fight Jerry and his grotesque lies and views about people with disabilities — join the Blogswarm Against the Telethon, and Blog Out! See what other real folks with disabilities have to say about Jerry, his PityThon, how it makes them feel, and how thay have, or are overcoming. Stop by MiSS CRiP CHiCK’s place first, because she is leading this fight, then, join the Blogswarm at Kara’s site! It’s not too late, so go on by!
i think it’s interesting that you and i both chose to write about the community and our experiences with finding it in reference to the telethon. it shows why it’s so important to fight against the telethon—so that other young people will be able to build their own ideas of disability and not one formed by pity.
You liberal and mindless freaks makes me sick to my stomach. Jerry Lewis is an 80 year old man with failing health, who has dedicated his entire life to finding a cure for this life robbing disease. It’s not about pity. I feel pity for you. I pity that any person would speak out against something so honorable. These monies collected every year go to help these kids live fuller lives while they are with us. It provides wheelchairs, medicines, and activities that they otherwise could never afford. It also provides research, that over time has helped some people live longer fuller lives. Who else is going to pay for that? You????
I have no pity for anybody with a disablity like MS. I have hope for them. I have hope that modern medicine, and the charitibale acts of kindness by millions will pay off, and someday end the suffering effects of this horrible disease.
Now, Klunkit, just because we don’t agree doesn’t give you the right to go calling folks out of their names. The problem that I, and many of us with disabilities have is that he uses pity and stereotyping to get money, then, expects folks with disabilities to be grateful to his for seeing us as pitiable, less than human creatures. Also, most of the money that he raises goes to pay the big salaries of the upper management at MDA, and also to pay the stars who come on the telethon. Only a small percentage goes to the benefits that you mentioned.
Klunkit, I don’t know if you are a person with a disability, or, simply one who goes trolling for flames, but you should have read a bit before you posted your disagreeable post. If you like Jerry, and the way that he does things, so be it. I don’t want your pity, nor am I looking for a cure. My great hope is that I live my life to the fullest, and that my work to ensure that people with disabilities have the basic civil and human rights that non-disabled folks enjoy will someday come to fruition. My blessed hope is for the day when I can take my place in society without the burden of stares and whispers, stereotyping, or thinking that something is wrong with me that must be cured; when I am not subjected to pity, fear, revulsion, or thought of as someone’s “inspiration” for simply living my life — that is my hope!
Klunkit, if you post in here again, I ask that you be civil. We can disagree without being disagreeable. That is the way that mature people behave.
Peace
I am a mature person. Just an angry one. My anger stems from you blogging against a man who has dedicated his entire life to helping people. How much money have you raised so that a child that you don’t know or will never even meet can have fun at a summer camp, or have the freedom to get along on his own without assistance walking? Jerry’s only dream is to see a cure in his own lifetime, and each year as Mr. Lewis looks older and more frail it seems that this may not happen, one can only hope that his work continues. I do not believe that Jerry Lewis uses pity. He merely shows poeple the devastating effects of this disease in it’s many forms. I do not recall him ever begging for pity, just asking for those who want to help to reach into their pockets.
Mr. Lewis himself stated on his last telethon that the reason he started this way back in 1949 is that the general american public did not even acknowledge MD, only a small portion even knew what it was, so he made it his mission to educate people about it’s devastating effects.
MD in most of it’s forms is not just a disability, it’s a DEATH sentence. My brother died at the young age of 17. MDA gave alot of assistance to our family, and my brother. Do I have pity for myself or my brother because he is gone? NO! I can only pray that with help from unselfish people like Jerry Lewis, someday someone else won’t have to watch their brother die.
Also, you have your facts wrong. All of the stars who attend the telethon donate their time. The South Coast Hotel and Casino also donates the use of their facilities. At least know the facts before you protest something. When my brother Joshua was still here, the MDA sent him to summer camp every year, it’s all he talked about all year round. They also provided him with a motorized wheelchair. When my parents couldn’t cover all of the medical bills, they stepped in and helped. I don’t remeber anyone ever pitying him. They truly cared. Josh died in 98, and since then donated funds have enabled researchers to come up with certain types of gene therapy which if available at that time would mean he would still be here with us. Helping someone out is not pity, it’s compassion. The world would be a cold and lonely place without compassionate and loving folks.
Klunkit, I am sorry for the loss of your brother. I have lost two friends to MD. They lived their lives to the fullest, fighting for disability rights. As for what I have done personally, I have spent my entire adult life advocating for, and helping folks with disabilities, including getting them them the things they need, including equipment. Look, let us agree to disagree–we have different views about Jerry Lewis that won’t change, and the little precious energy that I have must be conserved. Peace!
If I may say, conserve your time standing out against something that is really hurtine poeple. Jerry Lewis is not hurting anyone. He made a vow that people with MD should be noticed, and he has spent the majority of his life trying to help those poeple. Prior to his telethon, MD was a disease that was basicly ignored by the mainstream.
As for your friends, I am sorry for your loss. I know all to well what it is like to lose somebody. Also, the fact that you have helped people is more than most can say, and that is most honorable.
However, I highly doubt that you have raised over a billion dollars in your lifetime for the sole purpose of saving a life- so please, I beg of you… leave the man a lone.
His work has done my family good, and countless others. Who knows, maybe someday there will be a cure to this life robbing disease.
Thank you