Be the change

When I was young I used to use a word that started with R. I did a lot of ignorant things, making fun of people with disabilities. I told myself that I was a R if I did something wrong. I told my friends that they were R if they were being stupid. 

I am so overwhelmingly ashamed of all those things. This word is SO ingrained in my mind that even though I am trying to take it out of my vocabulary, I STILL sometimes slip and use it. Even in front of the people that I know it hurts the most. 

But I am not writing this to make people feel sorry for me or my family. I know that they are strong and that they are amazing. I have so much respect and admiration for my brother and his wife and his girls. I know that they are fighters and they are gonna be alright even if the world continues to screw up.

But I want to advocate for them and for so many other beautiful people like my niece Gabriella. The world WILL continue to be messy and sinful, but that doesn’t mean that we need to sit back and accept it. NO.

I will not accept that word as part of my vocabulary anymore and I am asking you to do the same. Yesterday was National Spread the word to end the word day in the states. Since this issue is very dear to my heart I didn’t want to sit back and say nothing about it. Go to www.r-word.org to find out how you can become a part of the movement to take this word out of your vocabulary and to pave the way for our future generations. 

Things in the States are changing much quicker than things here are. Children like my beautiful niece are institutionalized here. Beautiful girls like this who have parents are put away, so that people don’t have to think about them or worry about offending them or even remember that there are people with disabilities in this world. They are locked away for people to forget about. 

The West has a lot of influence on places like this. Most of it being bad. But what I am hoping is that as our treatment of people with disabilities gets better, the way that people treat them HERE will too! 

Please join with me in this fight to change lives and to open people’s eyes to how much people with disabilities have to offer the world. They are not worthless, they are amazing and they can teach us so much if we only see them for WHO they are!