I’ve had my silly walk all my life. If I’d have been smart I could have been on Monty Python with John Cleese and made a fortune. When someone with an obvious problem like me ends up in a wheelchair, people aren’t overly surprised.
That is not the norm for disability. Only 1 in 20 disabilities are obvious from an early age. Most disabilities result from the sudden onset of an event, like Gary Gray’s.
I remember Gary Gray who was a Credit Union manager. He was a normal person with no obvious signs of disability. Then one day he had a stroke and his life changed. He is struggling to survive, to regain whatever he can of his former life. Gary has become a person with a disability.
“Susan Sontag said we all carry two passports: one for the land of the well, one for the land of the ill,” Mia Farrow noted. “Any minute, the passport for the land of the well can be revoked, and you’re in another land entirely.”
Most people develop disabilities as they age. According to Benefits and Services for Persons With Disabilities, the ratios for disability are:
Middle age – 13% have disability
55 and 64 years – 20% have disability
65 and 74 years – 30% have disability
75 years up – 50% have disability.
These are not good odds. Disability is not just my problem or Gary’s problem or someone you see in the shopping centre in a chair. It’s everyone’s problem.
How can the government bring in a program as well-intentioned as the Disability Support Program and then cut it back $1 million after 5 years? What are they thinking?
Related Stories
* Gary Gray finds DSP abusive
* Passport to the land of the well is revoked
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