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Jerry Lewis Out At MDA
Not sure if we will learn the whole story but it is the end of an era.
Say what you will, I know he’s not the nicest person around, but he raised billions of dollars for research
One Response to “Jerry Lewis Out At MDA”
i think patrick, from what I hear, being a commissioner for BSA, special needs, that he has long been under fire by the special needs community activists (sometimes called ‘disability community’ and other titles that continue to evolve over time as consciousness changes) re infantilizing those with challenges, seeing them as half-persons unable to contribute.
While I know he raised so so much money to help others, it is also a new day where many in wheelchairs and with other kinds of challenges want to be seen as full human beings, and there is just so much film of Jerry, I guess, doing his fundraising in the old style, of here is this pathetic child, and etc. Personally, I give him all credit, even if his ways and means were superceded by a different consciousness in the special needs community over these decades. But, times change, and we all hope to learn anew.
Incidentally Pat, when we teach about SN to other troop leaders in the districts at Boy Scouts, we teach that about 81% of the population has a ‘special need,’ all the way from access needs to dietary etc. Many SN do not show but accomodation is needed in that area nonetheless. Part of the issue about SN is that people dont want to be i.d’d with what is frail or injured, rather to be a full person who happens to have this other aspect as part of their lives, but not all of their lives. Hope that helps a bit.