President Barack Obama, Moth Balls and Gutter Balls

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by Marcie Lipsitt
Monday, March 30, 2009

I have already blogged on President Obama's gaffe on Late Night with Jay Leno regarding the Special Olympics.  Still, the topic and the individual at the center of this teachable moment deserve more scrutiny, conversations and blogging.   Far too many of our citizenry and that includes the disability community have given President Obama a "get out of responsibility card" with a mere apology and White House invitation to some Special Olympics athletes.   Yet, Mr. Obama's slip of the political tongue brings to light, the glaring, harsh reality of how Americans view our citizenship with disabilities, along with our President's ignorance. 

This is a President who made it clear that he views disability to equate inability.  From my perspective this was a wonderful moment because it taught me and countless others, early into the Obama Presidency and these first "100 Days" that Barack Obama has a steep learning curve.  Disability advocates/activists have our work cut out, if we are to see this President include our children and adults with disabilities in his vision of an America in crisis and America reborn.

So the President made an unfunny joke.  He then laughed, along with Jay Leno and the TV audience.  The joke and the laughter came far too easily for everyone and especially the leader of the free world.  Then the news media caught the proverbial wind. Immediately there was a flurry of internet buzz and the every 30-minutes news byte about the President's gaffe and how he had apologized to Tim Shriver, Chair of the Special Olympics, even before the show had aired.  According to Mr. Shriver, the President "...expressed his disappointment and he apologized, in a way that was very moving."  President Obama went on to add that he wanted to have a few Special Olympic athletes over to the White House for a game of bowling or basketball.  Are we ready for a photo-op and group hug? 

I hope not because the reality of this situation cannot be solved by the President playing a game of basketball or rolling a few gutter balls with some adults with disabilities.  Even Special Olympic athletes like Kolan McConiughey, a bowling phenom with four perfect games under his belt, will not see his everyday life improve through a game of bowling with the President.  Should the President lose a game of bowling to Mr. McConiughey, he should be left wondering and troubled by the fact that this 35 year-old with a cognitive impairment can bowl the way he does but bags groceries for a living.   And don't get in a tizzy that I am bashing honest work such as bagging groceries...instead, continue reading. 

Mr. Obama must begin to question the "why" behind the inability of our 14,000 public school districts to teach students with mild and yes, even moderate cognitive impairments to read when they have the exceptional eye-hand coordination and visual perceptual capabilities to bowl perfect games.  It is one thing to "choose" to bag groceries.  It is another to be slotted at a young educational age for an existence that does not include meaningful education or the opportunity to do more than menial labor and choose your own path to a maximally productive adulthood.  And for millions of Americans with disabilities, they were once students put on a functional educational plan to nowhere but minimum wage jobs, unemployment and unemployability.