Joy Writes: "does anyone else read People magazine?"  Nope, sorry too cheap
to pay for a subscription, but I get the gist of the article from your
description. "...a girl in a wheelchair who attended her prom."  Joy went on
to say, "It bothered me that that was considered newsworthy. ... Does anyone
else feel the same way, or am I overreacting..."

First of all, any reaction you have is a valid one.  Everyone is entitled to
an opion.  If you had gone to the publishing house for People Mag, with an
automatic weapon, "voiced" your dismay by taking a few shots, THEN I'd say
you were overreacting.  Formulating an opinion or having an emotional
reaction is perfectly normal.  In fact, that is why a magazine will print a
story like this in the first place.  They are looking to illicit emotional
responses, and I believe they are trying to foster the very prinicipal which
you seem most distressed about.  "Why is it such a big deal?  We're normal
people!"

Personally, I think media in general have the horrible habit of branding
people- no matter what.  Think about it.  They never say, "the suspect or the
victim."  They always label people who are summarily broken down into
categories, (white, black, Catholic, Jewish, young, old, educated,
impovorished, disabled).  Our differences are always mentioned.  As to the
People article, I personally think it is a good thing.  Yes, we should be
living in an enlightend world were differences do not count, but if any of
you currently reside in that zip code, let me know.  I'll pack up move there,
however, I don't honestly believe such a place yet exists.

Renee said, "Yes its really archaic that this is news."  She then went on to
say, "But then some of us had no hope of going to the prom...."    If we
lived in the ideal socieity, this of course would be archaic and not
newsworthy.  But we don't live there yet.   What if this article had been
printed when Renee or I were "Prom Age?"  Wouldn't this have given us
encouragement?  In fact, doesn't this article today give those who are in
wheelchairs the reinforcement that they can and should strive to do all the
"normal" things teenagers do?  More importantly, doesn't an article like this
help instill the notion in the able-bodied that "we are normal people?"

Media exposure of disabled people, marking the "normal"  mile-stones in life,
help reinforce the very fact that we are capable of most anything.  My
personal opinion on an article like this is that it might be distasteful to
those of us who already know we are "normal people" but it is still necessary
and positive.  Perhaps as the media continues to show those of us who are
"different" doing all the "normal" things, it will stop being newsworthy and
just be how it is.  I see these incidents as small building blocks toward
contstruction of a socieity where difference isn't such a big issue.  Anyway,
that's my opinion. - Denise.