What’s remarkable about all this isn’t that the hospital changed its mind. What’s remarkable is that the public was immediately on the disabled child’s side. Only a few decades ago, the American public didn’t concern itself with children with rare genetic defects. There were institutions. The children were out of sight. The public didn’t care because it didn’t know these kids. And now that we do, we rush to protect them.
We may have a long, long way to go in accepting all people with disabilities and in including them in everyday life and in providing for them. People with disabilities are the most medically underserved group in our country, turned away from doctors’ offices and denied medical procedures every day. Amelia Rivera’s case is not unique.
But we have come a long, long way, too. The public reaction to Amelia’s plight is proof.
My granddaughter Lucy has Down syndrome. For years, children with Down syndrome were put in institutions and separated from the world. They weren’t deemed educable, so they weren’t taught. They weren’t deemed valuable, so they weren’t valued.
It was this way for decades. Now it isn’t. Times have changed and we have changed, too.
Deinstitutionalization. Special Olympics. The Americans With Disabilities Act. No Child Left Behind. The prevalance of children with autism. All the walks that promote awareness.
These have propelled change.
People who were once locked behind brick walls are now our neighbors, are in school with our kids, wheel down the street in motorized chairs, live in group homes, use augmentative speech programs, work, socialize, play.
And we see them.
