More than I wanted to know, thanks very much!  Eucccchhhh!

        Kat

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rayna Lamb" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, January 19, 2002 2:11 PM
Subject: Re: David Ring


> 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?