Just looked up this David Ring on Google, and all I have to say is
ewwwwww!!! yuuuuuuck!!!  I'll quote from one of the web sites
advertising his public speaking:

David Ring
I Have Cerebral Palsy  What's Your Problem?  [a VERY ambiguous
statement that can be taken several ways, few of them good - this
appears to be his catchphrase] - just looked on his own website, and
it is a phrase he uses..... oh dear: "As one who has not been stifled
by his physical limitation, [well, why SHOULD he be?  Is anyone else
sick to death of the constant implication that living an everyday life
is a complete impossibility for PWD - I've had 3 people in the last
two weeks alone express complete surprise that 1. I'm more than
compentent in many areas of life, 2. I'm not sitting in a corner
permanently miserable - well all right I have spent many years of my
life doing that, but I wasn't so much miserable about the CP as I was
about the appalling way I was treated by those who were meant to look
after me, a state of affairs that is not exclusive to PWD, and 3. That
I don't need AB people to push, `encourage', or otherwise bully me
into being `normal'.  Most of the AB people I know aren't as
independent as I am, and I get sick of the inference that if it wasn't
for these `superior' AB's I would collapse into moral degenerancy or
unhealthy dependency if left to my own incompetent devices. Sorry,
little personal rant there, having a few struggles with well meaning
types at the moment.  I feel better now though *g*], he clearly states
his challenge to everyone, I have Cerebral Palsy  What's Your Problem?"

Topics
Disabilities, Inspiration [ick, ick, ICK!], Motivation, Overcoming
Adversity, Overcoming Adversity [this appeared twice on the website -
an interesting mistake, and I'll refrain from ranting about my
distaste for this phrase, and the way it is *always* attached to
PWD's], Perserverance [remarks as above]

His bio further down refers to the theme of his life as being "Triumph
Over Odds"........

Does this answer your question, Kat? :-)

Rayna

On Sat, Jan 19, 2002 at 01:16:47PM -0500, Salkin Kathleen wrote:
    This is a touchy subject for me, because I am Jewish (having  converted
    after being an Episcopalian and Unitarian-Universalist for 40-something
    years), and I do not like prostelysation (spelling?).  And somehow, a
    disabled person using his disability as a selling point, so to speak, is
    even worse.  Does David Ring do that?