The Whole Is Greater Than The Sum Of its Parts

This is a truism that many of learned in High School but if you were like me you wondered what it meant. It wasn’t until I began applying this idea to the disabled that I finally understood what Euclid was implying. He was saying that the combined whole has more power and mass than any of its single component parts.

How does this simple principle apply to the disabled community? It means that if we want to be viewed as normal then we all must unite and fight for the common good of all. Our Community cannot continue on our present course and let highly visible disabilities fight for individual pieces of the Disability Pie.

The above has been my thesis ever since I began my advocacy efforts. It was once again brought to the forefront in a group of which I am a member. Unfortunately this group is following the dictates of a larger group whose emphasis is Parity rather than in the removal of all artificial blockades to employment for the entire community. This larger group appears to be more concerned with its piece of the Disability Pie than it is for what would be good for the whole community.

This group needs Parity but not Parity that may come at the expense of the whole Community. Parity will never happen unless all groups target insurance issues to be one of the major reasons why many of us may be either unemployed, under employed, or in need of some type of government assistance.

Parity in insurance could be a major issue in showing the non-disabled why this one seemingly small issue may in fact be a major stumbling block to our employment. What employer will hire those who they beleive to be liabilities to them?

Why should employment be such an important issue to our Community? Employment opportunities not just Insurance Parity should our rallying point because when we insure that those of us capable of employment are employed then we pacify the voice of those who would have others believe that we don’t want employment. When we pacify these fake voices then we show the majority of the non-disabled that they should in fact cry for the removal all man made barriers to employment. When we neutralize these false voices then we can show the whole non-disabled community the monetary gains which could be made by Society should it decide to remove these artificial barriers to our employment.

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