Blogging for Civil Rights: The MDA Telethon Edition

I'm sure lots of working Americans are really happy to have the day off today, but not everything is great about Labor Day. For one thing, my local conservative radio station took the opportunity to discuss why they think labor unions are nothing but money-stealing organizations that support lazy people who don't want to work. For another thing, there's the annual Jerry Lewis MDA telethon.

 

The telethon is widely known as one of television's longest running traditions, but it doesn't take a genius to know that that doesn't necessarily mean it's a good thing.  People have defended some crazy things in the name of tradition.  And as I blogged here, not everyone is supportive of this particular tradition.  Disability activism has come a long way since the telethon began in 1966, but unfortunately the attitudes underlying this annual fundraiser have not. 

 

I hate to make this whole argument out of analogies, and I would never want to make any unfair comparisons, but as a social justice advocate, it's easy to see the parallels between disability activism and other anti-oppression movements.  The Muscular Dystrophy Association may have good intentions with what it is trying to do with the telethon, but the problem lies with its approach.  By portraying disability as a horrible, awful thing that makes its "victims" objects of pity and somehow less than "normal" people, it only perpetuates harmful stereotypes about people who live with disabilities.  Stereotypes that affect how others view them and how they view themselves.  And here's where the anaologies come in:  We know that being anything other than a straight white male in our society means that you have a number of forces working against you.  But what if someone were to propose that the solution to inequality was not to fight for civil rights, but to find a way to make everyone become straight white males?  Do LGBTQ activists like it when people argue that they shouldn't be gay?  How do people of color enjoy being told to assimilate to avoid discrimination?  Women bristle at the idea that the way to equality is to act more like men, and of course people with disabilities have every right to be horribly offended by an annual day-long event in which patronizing "normals" try to raise money on their behalf by drumming up pity based on the ridiculous assertion that their disability somehow makes them less than everyone else.  Civil rights activism is not centered around making marginalized people more "normal"; it is about making society more fair, accepting, and accessible.   It is the oppressor that needs reforming, and NOT the oppressed.

 

The telethon-protest movement (which was actually started by former telethon poster children) has come under a lot of criticism for being "ungrateful" for all the perceived good the telethon has done in its forty years of existence.  But to them ( and quite understandably so), it doesn't matter how much money the telethon makes.  The donations are just unwelcome as long as they're in the name of pity and as long as the telethon contributes to the marginalization of people with disabilities.  The MDA telethon and it's host happen to be downright insulting to people with disabilities, and  HERE's what the disability rights movement would like to see from the MDA (via cripcommentary.com):

 

1. Immediately fire Jerry Lewis as host of the MDA Telethon.

2. Immediately stop using children in fundraising efforts. Parents can no longer consent to their exploitation.

3. Immediately hire an independent auditor to conduct an honest, impartial, objective accounting of the Telethon's costs and revenues.

4. Based on the accounting, develop a timetable for "weaning" the MDA budget away from dependence on the Telethon

(For links to other posts about the telethon, refer to the comments section of this post at Miss Crip Chick's blog.)