Here, here!  Very well-put, Stephen!

My mother would often dismiss my opinions with a "oh you don't know what
you're talking about" even when the subject was politics.  Consequently I
refused to get into such discussions with her and she'd be frustrated
because I'd change the topic.  But I was tired of her belittling me and so I
refused to play the game.   I loved my mother dearly but she was hard to
live with at times.  Unfortunately it all left me with the reluctance to
discuss things with people I don't know or trust and I know I can trust the
people on this list not to put me down.

Kat

----- Original Message -----
From: "Stephen Allman" <[log in to unmask]>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.c-palsy
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, November 02, 2002 11:46 PM
Subject: Group Discussions


> When this group discusses subjects that effect everyone like the shootings
or
> the possibility of war this proves that our group cares. We are people
that
> have CP but our disability is not what we are. We care about people and
it's
> great we have this forum to discuss our thoughts and anything else we want
to
> talk about.
>
> This group discusses CP issues and they are very important to us but we
> cannot and should not shut out the rest of the world. If we just talk
about
> CP issues we would exclude the rest of the world and this would be a
boring
> group to be in. We need to voice our thoughts and opinions because we care
> about people. This group gives people the opportunity to voice their
thoughts
> and for many of us it may be the only place where people will listen to
our
> views.
>
> I do not post much but I read every email and I respect people that talk
> about everything and not just CP issues.
>
> Stephen Allman