Disabilities "R" US

by Monica Smith [courtesy of Blog for America]

The first weekend in November, Granite State Independent Living, along with a half dozen sponsors and over two dozen supporting organizations, held a bi-partisan presidential candidate forum in Manchester, New Hampshire. Perhaps because some of the Republican candidates hadn't yet committed themselves, only two were invited and only John McCain actually participated via a conference call. Perhaps Rudolph Giuliani, having struggled to overcome some significant disabilities without, apparently, much success, decided that bragging about things he hadn't actually done would not go over well before such an audience.

Before you jump to any conclusion, let me explain that I came away from the Forum with the sudden awareness that everyone has some disability, something they're not able to accomplish because of some physical, psychological or emotional impediment and that the only thing differentiating the so-called "disability community" is their ability to accept their limitations instead of trying to hide them. Which, it would be my guess, makes them a bit more honest than the rest of us.

One wonders what a difference it would have made for our nation, and the globe for that matter, if George W. Bush weren't compelled to hide his insecurity and incompetence behind an insolent bravado. At a minimum, I suspect, there would be close to a million Iraqis preserved from the experience of a pre-mature death.

John McCain, of course, has made a virtual career out of the disabilities visited on him by his captors in Viet Nam and has, in his own person, realized the goals of the Forum, Equality, Opportunity and Access. Which, again, is what all Americans strive for, when you come right down to it.