these connect
Apr. 1st, 2009 07:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
adrian_turtleA few years ago, an ambitious young legislator from Florida believed she could not be taken seriously in Congress if her colleagues or constituents knew she was being treated for cancer.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/03/27/fla_congresswoman_fought_cancer_in_secret/
A few months ago, an ambitious young legislator from Revere proposed a state law based on the premise that people with disabilities, and old people, can't really be free agents making decisions about their lives. (Thanks, Firecat)
http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/house/186/ht01/ht01688.htm
Kathi-Anne Reinstein is 38, and seems to have spent most of her career in politics. She has been involved with previous laws against nursing home abuse, and so forth. I just wonder if a healthy 38-year-old immersed in a competitive political environment realizes that "disabled" doesn't always mean "completely disabled," and "needing assistance" doesn't always mean "incapable of making decisions or accomplishing anything worthwhile."
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/03/27/fla_congresswoman_fought_cancer_in_secret/
"I just didn't want it to define me. When I'm quoted in the newspaper, I didn't want to be 'Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who's battling breast cancer,'" she said. "I wanted to be viewed as a congresswoman, as a mom, as a fighter."
A few months ago, an ambitious young legislator from Revere proposed a state law based on the premise that people with disabilities, and old people, can't really be free agents making decisions about their lives. (Thanks, Firecat)
http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/house/186/ht01/ht01688.htm
Kathi-Anne Reinstein is 38, and seems to have spent most of her career in politics. She has been involved with previous laws against nursing home abuse, and so forth. I just wonder if a healthy 38-year-old immersed in a competitive political environment realizes that "disabled" doesn't always mean "completely disabled," and "needing assistance" doesn't always mean "incapable of making decisions or accomplishing anything worthwhile."
