My plunge into activism

Somehow I have less and less time these days. Admittedly, since my heart attack two years ago, I've stopped skimping on sleep. But I doubt that explains my inability to do nearly as much as before.

In any case, one result has been neglect of this blog. 

I suppose that the "same old, same old" status of C. has also contributed to my failure to post (seizures are still a fixture of our lives, fine and gross motor skills - plateaued and that new wheelchair is still a nightmare.)

An additional factor is my recent involvement in some honest-to-goodness activism. It fell into my lap, out of left field. 

Here's how:

A major local organization defending the rights of people with disabilities recently paired up fifteen members of the legislature with fifteen involved citizens, me among them. We were sent - all on the same day - to stage surprise raids on twelve large, closed institutions scattered across the country. 

The idea was that the law-makers, who by law must be admitted whenever they appear at an institution's door, would insist on being accompanied by their activist-partners. Of course, on our own we would never have gained entrance.

My lawmaker-partner and I visited an institution that's just fifteen minutes drive from my home. It houses 82 people with severe disabilities ranging in age from infancy to 40 years old. I've been harshly criticizing this place in posts here and at other sites for a long time so it was thrilling to finally gain entrance to it.

A complaint letter has been sent to the relevant government ministry containing some of what I learned from the tour guide - an employee of the raided institution.

I've spent tons of time transcribing the recording I made of our tour guide's hour-long spiel. She's an administrator of the place and just spewed the jargon-laden gobbledy-gook for over an hour.

This week, a complaint letter drafted by the advocacy organization and containing some of what I learned from the tour guide, was sent to the government department that's in charge of social welfare. 

I'll share some of the damning points in another post, after the department responds.