In a message dated 1/31/2002 6:28:44 AM Eastern Standard Time, [log in to unmask]
writes:


> Betty, thank you so much for educating Paul!  We need more like you!
>
> Love,
> mag
>
Thanks for saying that Mag.  There was no work involved; he was receptive to
the information.  I am preparing something with a little depth about MiCASSA
for Paul to pass along to his congressman.

The trick about this it to make them see people they are not seeing now.
They don't think of nursing homes and institutions as havens for abuse.  They
don't see the alternatives, nor do they see the necessity of a society to
cause safe situations to exist for its most vulnerable members.

We can talk about how the Stockholm Syndrome applies to institutionalized
people, but the listerner has to feel it.  He just has to feel it.  Getting
somebody to do that is hard work when they have never felt threatened in the
ways that incarcerated people feel threatened.

These folks have to be taught.  They are operating under age old
misconceptions, and the idea that if they address us using person-first
termonology (person with a disabilty as opposed to disabled person), that
their job is done.

Paul was receptive though.  That felt good.