Discrimination Olympic tickets 4 sale

I am selling my tickets to the 2008 Olympics in China.  My son was accepted as a member of the U.S. Olympic Team and we were very excited to attend as a family.  However the official website has added the rule that you may not come into China if you have “mental disease”.   Larkin can’t go to China with her brother.  We either have to split up as a family or we can boycott. 

Yes the above paragraph is not true.  Chase is not a part of the U.S. Olympic Team (yet) and I don’t have tickets.  The rest of it – is true.  In a sweeping judgement by China, if you have any type of “mental disease” you may not attend the Olympics or be allowed into China.  I like how they throw in sexually transmitted diseases too.  Wonder how they are going to check for those. 

Larkin’s disability shows.  You can clearly see that my daughter has Down syndrome.  You can’t see that she has seizures.   It’s long been a pet peeve of mine how people throw around the “R” word and discriminate against those with “mental disease” (I am going to start using that term in Larkin’s doctor visits – oh that is going to make me laugh)  Our children and population of those who fight against mental illness are the last people that are OK to use their conditions to make fun of or use as a slam.

To quote Kanye West “George Bush don’t care about disab– oh wait Kanye West didn’t care about  say that about the disabled.   Riddle me this.  If China decided last night to add to their website:  Caucasian, African American, Hispanic and rednecks may not visit China – would you notice?  HELLS YES you would.  Did you notice they blocked those with “mental disease”?  I doubt it.  But I promise you that every single parent with a child with a mental illness did.  Every single citizen of the United States of America fighting a mental illness did. 

We are the last group that it is OK to poke at.  I’ll share a little story with you that happened to me at an Illinois Football game 2 years ago.  There was a group of people discussing our mascot Chief Illiniwek.  

There was a gentleman in the crowd who was talking to me and 3 others.  He happened to be African American and he was very passionate about removing the Chief.  The Chief is racist.  The Chief is a terrible reminder of how white people wiped out a race.  He had me until he said “If you think the Chief isn’t racist then you are a retard”

Yeah I let him continue.  Yeah I waited until he was finished.  I looked him dead in the eye and said “My daughter is retarded.  My daughter has a medical diagnosis of mental retardation.  Now exactly WHO is the hate monger here?”   It’s the total lack of regard for those who have mental retardation and those fighting mental illness.  Comics do it, people on reality TV shows use it, I hear this word every single day of my life used as a way to make someone feel inferior, put down, and as an adjective for any number of things people feel they can’t find another word – such as ridiculous, silly, unthinkable, nonsense – I’ll keep going but the list is too long.  FIND ANOTHER WORD.

In summary:  I think a boycott of the 2008 Olympics in China is in order.  I can do that in a small way by ensuring their sponsors know how I feel.  Here is a complete list if you care to join me.  Oh and one more thing – don’t use the R word around me.  I’ll boycott you too.

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4 Responses to Discrimination Olympic tickets 4 sale

  1. Jen says:

    Ugh. It’s too early for me to be this mad. You’ve got to be kidding me China! I need more coffee before I can process this one.

  2. Jen says:

    I just looked at the official site. We could try to sneak the girls into China, but could BE FINED. hmm. What would the going rate be for sneaking in 2 girls with Ds, I wonder?

  3. Amy says:

    Jen…it is China. I think prison and canning would be at the top of their list. Notice they added anyone with AIDS as well. I am still wondering if they are going to have stirrups at the arrival gate so they can check for STD’s. Oh and my FAVORITE part is the old term for children with Down syndrome comes FROM CHINA. Because our children have almond shaped eyes and a flat nose bridge. We could just say our children are mixed decent. Andy and Mark won’t mind will they? roflmao

  4. Cynthia says:

    A great post! I am right there with you. Trying to find a way to stop people beating up on this group of people that has no common voice. I want to get my Down syndrome group involved in reaching schools… teaching young people how inappropriate this is.

    There is a great website that you would be interested in
    http://stopsayingretard.wordpress.com/

    Another strong voice is at:
    http://davehingsburger.blogspot.com/ do a search on his site and you will find a lot of wonderful posts.

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