QUOTE(matt85 @ May 12 2007, 01:42 AM)
Neither do i man. It kind of hurts me that some people think that i am some sort of heartless animal for showing this in my siggy. I may need to put a pic up of me mowing an old ladys lawn, to show my good will.
Matt ~ I'm not offended by your signature picture. However, my whole point is that you are exploiting this individual (albeit intentional or unintentional), calling him your "mascot" and also renaming him "Hank" is completely degrading to people with physical and mental disabilities.
I worked for ten years in Genetics, all of it consisted of diagnosing, treating and counselling individuals with genetic handicaps. I also worked very hard to change peoples' perception of physical/mental disabilities. Educating people to realise that these members of society are not to be ridiculed, not to be laughed at, are not to be used as "mascots"...they are people with REAL feelings.
You may think that what you are doing is fun and that it is harmless. It isn't harmless, in fact you are no better than the circus sideshow of the turn of the century. You are displaying Schleize because of his disabilities, regardless of whether you find his laughter "contagious". In your own way, you are contributing to the setting back of any progress that has been made for people with disabilities by continuing to have this in your signature.
THIS is my issue. The actual condition that Schleitze has does not upset me, I have seen people afflicted with far worse than microcephaly. My issue is that your signature is exploiting him, plain and simple.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Just use the mind trick, matt.
