On March 9th, Peter Singer made an appearance in Chicago promoting a new book. When he recently and belatedly found out that NDY headquarters had moved from Chicago, he might have figured that he’d get a free pass from any annoying disabled detractors.
A free pass is what he didn’t get. NDY headquarters is gone, but the community of disability activists is alive and well in that city. NDY was always proud to be one integral part of that larger community.
The following is an account from friend and colleague Gary Arnold, who writes the blog Common Ground, – “Notes and commentary on dwarfism, Little People of America and disability.”
Below are the opening paragraphs of “Sing out loud,” Gary’s account of the night Singer came to visit Chicago earlier this month:
On Monday, March 9, a group called the Public Square hosted a lecture by Peter Singer, a professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. The event took place at the International House on the University of Chicago Campus. Singer’s lecture was titled “The Life You Can Save”; the title echoes his latest book (THE LIFE YOU CAN SAVE Acting Now to End World Poverty), in which Singer argues that individuals who are economically comfortable, or safe, in developed countries should do more, and have a responsibility to do more, to help end poverty and starvation in developing countries.
Many people, both university students and community members, attended the lecture, but not everyone was interested to hear about the new book. Five disability rights activists also showed up to remind the audience, or to inform the audience, that Singer is not always in support of saving lives.
Please go read the rest of Gary’s account at his blog. –Stephen Drake
I was hesitant to read this, because Peter Singer gets me so angry and it’s early in the morning. But, I read it. I went to the link to Gary Arnold’s Common Ground. Oh, I am so glad that I did. It felt to so good to know that we, disabled people are “working on it”, all over. I feel moved by Gary Arnold’s piece. Thanks, Stephen. P.S. It also feels good when we’re right. Singer’s point of view is flat wrong. Time is on our side. (Very few people just “drop dead”. When a relative was very verbally harsh about disability and dismissive of my experience, I said she’d probably find out what it’s like to be disabled, since so few people just “drop dead”. Some years passed, she did become disabled in her old age and apologized to me. I understood.)