Inspired By Me

My friend and fellow activist Sally Campbell sent me this e-mail in response to a blog I wrote about the phenomenon of attempting to cure people with disabilities, especially children who have no legal rights to object to these sorts of procedures.  I was moved to turn this e-mail into a found poem, because so often I feel like my words have no impact on anyone.  Thank you, Sally, for reminding me- with your own beautiful words- that although that may seem like the case, it isn't. 

Brava!

this is a magnificent manifesto

in favor of living fully

with a disability.

I see a parallel,

though it is in many ways 

completely different with the hospice movement.

Once it is clear

that someone is moving

inevitably towards death,

it is better to comfort and celebrate them,

to allow them to be as fully alive as possible

during whatever time they have left.

Spending thousands of dollars

and suffering many painful,

useless

procedures in the attempt

to cure is such a waste.

And like a disability,

death is also not something

to be wished away,

but something to be accepted

as part of a reality

that also includes so much else

that is beautiful and meaningful.

If a cure is possible

and it will make enhance a person's life,

of course, one should go for it.

There comes a time, however,

as you say, Martina, when it is best

to let the hopeless hope of a cure go

and instead move forward

in another direction

which is also life-affirming.