Dangerous ideas

If you appreciated some of the ideas put forward in the Sunday Telegraph's feature article about people with Down syndrome today, (see earlier post), you might enjoy these too.

Christine Regan writes a column, MY WORD ! (a reflection on people with disability in society) for interaction, a publication of the National Council on Intellectual Disability.

Her most recent column (interaction Vol 24, issue #2, 2010 pp 33 - 38), puts forward a number of .....

Dangerous ideas

Much has been written and said about Sydney’s 2010 Festival of Dangerous Ideas.

Thinkers and commentators ranging from Geoffrey Robertson to Phillip Glover have ruminated on ideas such as “Should the Pope be prosecuted?” to “Parking meters are good!”

I utterly love the concept of dangerous ideas. I found myself wishing I had some.

Then, lightbulb moment, I suddenly realised that I live everyday with dangerous ideas ….. involving intellectual disability. As a risk-taking thrill-seeker, I thought I might share a few…

• Dangerous Idea: People with intellectual disability are really just like everyone else.

We all have different talents, understandings, world views, abilities etc — so do people with intellectual disability. Some of us need more assistance to navigate and negotiate the world, not just people with intellectual disability.

Why is this dangerous? Because it means that people with intellectual disability are no longer “other” or perpetual children. It means their rights to live and participate in the local street, the local shops, jobs and the community are the same rights as mine.

....  this is just the start —  read on here (go to pp 33 - 38) for more of Christine's Dangerous ideas.