When I found out that during the month of January, Equual Access would be focusing on justice, I thought that I didn’t have anything to say. I’m in the wonderful beginning part of an obsession where it feels like I’m diving into a massive pile of happiness to research and think about a certain topic, and justice is not really on my mind.
Then I woke up this morning and found this all over the blogosphere. I am sharing this story about a child named Amelia who was denied a kidney transplant because they doubted her “quality of life.” You see the little girl has mental retardation. That was the reason the doctor gave the child’s parents for deciding she was unworthy of a transplant. I encourage you to read the entire story and to share you reactions.
Click on Brick Walls to read it.
Seriously... it’s 2012. It’s the future that people wrote about in science fiction books. And yet we still have people who think that having a disability prevents someone from living a worthwhile life. We still have doctors who think this.
And I think of my favorite principle, ‘the inherent worth and dignity of every person’ and I wonder why all people cannot see the inherent worth and dignity that pulsates within each soul.
Last night I sat with one of my clients, a 12 year old with what some would call severe mental retardation. She was laughing and I started laughing, too, because the utter joy on her face told me that even if she didn’t understand much in the world, she understood this; that life is a good thing, and to keep on living is a good thing, too.
Now today I wonder: will there be justice for Amelia?
Will the doctors see the inherent worth and dignity in her?
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