Jerry Lewis was never a hero to the disabled community

[mentalsolstice]

Jerry Lewis was no hero to persons with disabilities (PWDs) or to people who worked to expand their rights. He was the antithesis to the needs of PWDs. His "pity" telethons never put a positive light on medical and technological advances that could improve opportunities for PWDs to function and contribute to society.

As long as PWDs are looked on with pity or even put up on pedestals just simply because we made accomplishments despite our disabilities, we'll never overcome the societal obstacles other minorities have.

I remember growing up in the 60s & 70s in my family, the thought wasn't that black people were bad, they were just unfortunate because of the color of their skin, and the same with LGBTQ.

However, PWDs will always suffer, eyes will be averted, people will say "there go I, but for the grace of the Lord." And posts here at DU about PWDs will continue to sink like a rock. Because, let's face it most of you never want to walk in those shoes.

I hope Mr. Lewis rests in peace, and my thoughts are with his family.

[leftstreet]

1. I don't see many posts here about disabilities

So I don't know if they 'sink like rocks'

[kcr]

44. That might be why you don't see them

Whatever the reason, they're not there. I think that's what the OP is trying to say. The disabled don't get the attention on DU or other progressive media that they should.

[mentalsolstice]

45. The only reason this one has stayed up is because it hit a sore spot

If I had left out any reference to JL, this thread would already be in the dustbin of DU history.

[oberliner]

2. He raised over a billion dollars for the MDA

An organization that has provided free summer camp to thousands of children with neuromuscular diseases among other things.

[secondwind]

3. Hear, hear. n/t

[cwydro]

22. ...

[obamanut2012]

29. That doesn't negate what the OP said

She is a PWD.

Lewis called disabled folks half a person, cripples, and said they deserved pity. THAT IS WHY THEY TOOK OFF HIS TELETHON. Because he really kinda sucked.

Jerry Lewis was no Danny Thomas.

[oberliner]

34. Yes it does

To many in that community, he is, indeed, a hero. The telethon ran for decades.

[mentalsolstice]

49. It does suck being called 1/2 person

No matter how many billions a person has raised for a cause.

[mentalsolstice]

60. Were those camps segregated?

Did they espouse JL's way of thinking? I would like to think the money was used to make camps for non disabled children inclusive for those with disabilities. I can tell you nightmare stories of people trying to segregate me.

[cyclonefence]

77. Jerry Lewis mocked people with disabilities in almost every film he made

and I think his support for the MDA resulted from his guilt. Raising all that money is well and good, but imo his mockery did much more harm than the good his money did.

His condescending attitude toward the kids with MD who appeared on his telethons made it clear that he didn't *get* it.

Ironically, his old movies are the favorite entertainment of my severely disabled daughter.

[Adrahil]

85. Yes he did. It would be nice if he actually listened to PWD

My wife is very much involved in the Disability rights movement.

Beleive, the work he did raising money was very much appreciated. What was not appreciated is that he took no advice on the subject of how to talk to or about PWD.

He maintained a "pity narrative," and was sometimes abusive to any who criticized that approach.

[Dreamer Tatum]

4. Except for the billion or so he raised for MD. Other than that

Yeah, pretty much a Dick to people with disabilities.

[rock]

6. +1

[obamanut2012]

31. He was a dick to them, the OP is correct

She is also a PWD btw.

[Loki Liesmith]

33. Someone left the bot on repeat

[calendargirl]

42. Yes

I suspect he did a lot more for the disabled than his armchair critics, who pshawed him, turned off his telethon in smog check station waiting rooms and hid the remotes.

[dflprincess]

5. Years ago my cousin (who was disabled) invited me attend a protest at the local Labor Day telethon

Really opened my eyes to what was offensive about Lewis' pleas.

My eyes were opened even further when a group of about 10 of us went out to eat after the telethon. There were 3 of us who were not disabled and when we arrived the hostess looked me in the eye and asked if booth or tables "would work" for our group. I told her that I had no preference and that she might want to ask those in the group that might have special seating needs.

[GulfCoast66]

10. Well screw Jerry

For not using some of the billion dollars he raised for real life MDA research to educate that wait person on being more inclusive and sensitive.

How dare he not be sensitive to every person in every situation.

What a loser he was...

[Dreamer Tatum]

12. There is no group of people quite so pure

As DU after a celebrity death.

[GulfCoast66]

13. Yeah

The sad thing is I actually debated putting a sarcasm thingy on my post as I have seen totally serious posts just as ridiculous.

[cwydro]

23. I know.

I don't get it. Never will.

Smh.

[WillowTree]

54. Damn! I wish I'd said that. Grave dancing tends to be a sport around here.

[Dreamer Tatum]

56. I look at it this way

the guys was 91, wealthy, and had a rich life full of friends and adventure.

He was in the Winner's Circle.

Nothing anyone says is going to mean a damned thing to anyone. And if you peel back the lid on the lives of people condemning him now, you'll find things at least as bad.

[Adrahil]

86. It's not about purity. Lewis was sometimes a dick.

He was notoriously dismissive of adults with disabilities, and infantilized even over children. He did a lot of good, but that doesn't erase the parts of him that were problematic.

Understand that people in the disability community have been dealing with this for a long time and many have developed a love/hate relationship with Jerry Lewis.

[delisen]

36. Jerry Lewis could have evolved but continued to aggrandize himself

while making people with disabilities objects of pity.

As the world evolved and began to understand the making people objects of pity held back people with disabilities from participating in the life the rest of us enjoy, lewis clung to his formula.

When people with disabilities asked him to change his hurtful formula, he lashed out at them and ridiculed them, and tried to make them objects of scorn.

My own belief is that if you want to raise money for medical research into disabling conditions, you should not do it in a way that hurts the people in whose name you are raising the cash.

These were people for example who had MDA or other conditions who attested to how the "object of pity" formula caused prospective employers turn them away.

Telethons themselves used a formula for raising money (I worked for an agency that used them for fundraising). The target audience was the lower middle class or lower class housewife with young children who would be moved emotionally to make pledges they could not afford- when they could not pay what they pledged they got phone call with scripts to induce guilt for not paying what they promised .

While J Lewis may have been "donating" his time, telethons have expenses, I expect that Lewis and the organization itself had considerable expenses.

In some charities the expenses almost equal the money raised each year.

I don't know what the expenses were for raising the "billions" over decades, but when organizations or news articles just throw out numbers like that, my experience has taught me to be skeptical.

Who was helped more over those decades, Jerry Lewis, research, people with MDA? I don't know.

As for Lewis in his own life, one of his children wrote about his brother's siucide:

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Joe had problems his entire life and I blame our father … Jerry Lewis is a mean and evil person. He was never loving and caring toward me or my brothers. I don’t know if Joe’s death is drug related, but I believe it could have been prevented if he and my father had been on better terms. I believe he partly died of a broken heart. [My father] doesn’t really care. He’s more worried about his career and his image than his own family.

[dflprincess]

75. Perhaps because we had been kids together I never treated my cousin as different

Yes, we often had to work around the disability but I never thought of her as an object of pity or as "less than".

That is how Lewis treated the kids he was raising money for. And it was offensive, I found it so long before he died and death doesn't change my opinion of his attitude.

BTW MDA only has a 2 star rating from Charity Navigator.

[Hekate]

7. I'm not sure you speak for the entire disabled community. My late friend Linda lived with MD...

...for over 50 years. (It was cancer that finally got her -- nobody thought to give her a Pap smear.) She could not drive, but was very active in the local disabled community. The van she used to get around in was donated by the Jerry Lewis foundation.

But thank you anyway for your perspective. I never watched the telethons, as they always kind of grated on me.

[Bladewire]

8. Not going to say how I feel. Too soon

I feel your vibe.

All Is Not What It Seems with this man.

[3catwoman3]

9. I never liked Jerry Lewis.

I found him creepy. Even when I was a only 8 or 9 (I'm 66 now), I thought some of his physical "comedy" looked as if he were mocking people with severe mental and physical handicaps - the thick glasses, the crossed eyes, the vacant facial expressions, the protruding teeth, and the spastic body movements that looked much like those made by Trump when he was mocking the disabled reporter.

[oberliner]

15. John Lennon used to mock people with handicaps

But he was still a great artist.

[3catwoman3]

18. I did not know that about John Lennon.

I generally prefer what I would call intellectual comedy versus physical - something that impresses me with wit and cleverness. I don't care for slapstick. I detest The 3 Stooges. I am probably one of the few people in the country who did not like Lucille Ball, as I particularly don't like it when a woman has to act stupid in order to succeed or to get what she wants.

[Dreamer Tatum]

19. John Lennon was sort of a dick, actually. nt

[oberliner]

35. It was his go-to schtick in the early days

In any case, I certainly understand that everyone has their own preferences when it comes to comedy. Even if you were never a fan of Jerry Lewis or Lucille Ball, I think you can recognize that they have impacted and influenced many who did love their work.

[Adrahil]

87. Sure... but like Jerry, that doesn't mean he wasn't an asshole sometimes. NT

[loyalsister]

11. The kids he said would soon die without your donations often grew up to be Jerry's orphans

Society, Kemp charged, saw disabled people as "childlike, helpless, hopeless, nonfunctioning and noncontributing members of society." And, he charged, "the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon with its pity approach to fund raising, has contributed to these prejudices."

Kemp contended that such prejudices "create vast frustration and anger" among disabled Americans, then numbered at 36 million. Kemp charged that disabled people suffered far more from lack of jobs, housing -- lack of access to society -- than from the diseases MDA sought to cure. He accused the Telethon's "pity approach . . . with its emphasis on Œposter children' and ŒJerry's Kids' " -- of creating prejudice. He called upon the Telethon to reform; to portray disabled people "in the light of our very real accomplishments, capabilities and rights." The Telethon, he insisted, "must inform the public of the great waste of money and human life that comes from policies promoting dependence rather than independence."

http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/archive/jerry92.htm

[onenote]

14. I doubt that you, or any one individual or group, speaks for the entire disabled community

n/t

[lunamagica]

68. Would you like to be called half a person?

[onenote]

78. Is that supposed to be a response to my post?

Because it doesn't have anything to do with my post.

[demosincebirth]

16. He made everyone laugh, except those without a sense of humor.

[obamanut2012]

32. I have a terrific sense of humor, and he wasn't funny

At all.

[gordianot]

17. As a teacher, administrator, psychological examiner for forty years the three kids I worked with MD

worshipped Jerry Lewis. Whatever faults the man had that was good enough for me. All three passed away in their early twenties to them he was a hero.

[Hortensis]

88. Thanks for speaking up. This OP is deplorably expressed.

[lunamagica]

20. Pity? (If) you dont want to be pitied because youre a cripple in a wheelchair, stay in ya house!

Lewis’ also said that living with MD is being “half a person.”

He also supported a candidate who mocked the disabled.

ICAM with you, OP

[Skittles]

21. a cripple?

WTF

[WePurrsevere]

30. While not PC now 'cripple' was

used quite often by some of Lewis's generation and before. I heard it used quite often, when I was young, by my grandmother and some of the older church members when referring to my now late (early '74) obviously disabled and ill mother.

I'm not a fan of Lewis's comedic style and have mixed feelings about the telethons, but not knowing the context the quote was said in, I took Lewis's comment about cripples staying inside differently. Quite often the immediate 'gut' reaction of 'most' people upon seeing an obviously disabled person is pity/sympathy. The only way to avoid that 'pity' reaction is to stay at home so either do that or you learn to deal with it when you go out. If being seen in proper context it reads differently I'll change my opinion of course.

I'm disabled too (MS) but my main disability has different challenges since it's 'invisible'.

[SweetieD]

59. Lewis made that comment in 2001 not the 70s. And based on the background of the comment he

Meant it as an offense. Jerry was a mean and nasty person to everyone in his life. I'm sure he made many derogatory comments that we don't even know about.

[Bradical79]

40. It's a Lewis quote

They forgot the " ".

[d_r]

41. Read the whole post

It is sarcasm.

I hate that language, too, but you can tell the post was trying to make a point.

[cwydro]

24. I've seen this quote all over DU.

But nowhere else.

[lunamagica]

26. Here you go:

http://www.cripcommentary.com/LewisVsDisabilityRights.html

http://www.quotehd.com/quotes/jerry-lewis-pity-you-dont-want-to-be-pitied-because-youre-a-cripple-in-a-wheelchair

https://abilitymagazine.com/news_lewis.html

[WinkyDink]

25. And you assert this on what basis? Hey, maybe then the MDA can return the $2 billion.

[obamanut2012]

27. Thanks for posting it -- am disgusted with all the praise

Not just here, but all over my Facebook and news.

He was really a bigot against the disabled, no matter how much money he raised, and friends of mine hate him.

Plus, he was a total wingnut and Trumper, and was a bigot against LGBT and women, too.

And wasn't funny. Come on, y'all, HE WAS NOT FUNNY AT ALL! I never even thought so when I was a kid.

[oberliner]

46. A bigot against the disabled?

?w=3000&h=2253

[mentalsolstice]

51. If not a bigot, he was totally misguided.

Especially as time went on and he was asked to change his tact. I was a senior attorney for our state's protection and advocacy system. The whole staff would cringe when it came time for the telethon. It felt like all our efforts to push for equality for PWDs in areas of education, jobs and housing, would just go out the window.

I don't speak for all PWDs, however, every year when the 50 P&As came together for our annual convention you could say there was no love lost for Mr. Lewis. I think it's wonderful that so much money was raised for MDA. However fundraising can be done in a way that puts a positive light on the issue.

[obamanut2012]

53. I love how people are attacking you about this, and dismissing YOUR feelings and concerns

WHOOSH.

[mentalsolstice]

55. Oh, I don't mind, I understand the man had his fans.

The disability community doesn't have the voice that some other minority communities have. As I said in the OP, I remember a time when I felt sorry for black people and LGBTQs. I no longer think "boy, am I happy I'm not one of them!" I realize that way of thinking is simply a milder form of bigotry than outright hatred, and can be as damaging to acceptance and equality. We still have a long way to go! However, this exactly JL's way of thinking.

[aikoaiko]

83. I think it's the absolute nature of the OP...

..."never a hero to the disabled community" that people are criticizing.

[obamanut2012]

52. Yes, he was

Lots of folks "love the sinner, hate the sin" in regards to LGBT. Same type thing.

Bigotry can also be soft bigotry.

[3catwoman3]

80. "I never even thought so when I was a kid."

Nor did I. See my posts 9 and 18 above.

[Mike Nelson]

28. You clearly...

...identified his weak spot regarding the MD telethon. There was a "White Man's Burdon" quality... but the money did help, I'm sure. I thought many of his films were dumb, but there were a couple good ones. I remember thinking he would have made a much better sit-com star after the movie career - I think he tried, but TV had moved on to more witty, ensemble shows.

[Demsrule86]

37. MDA is a terrible mostly fatal disease...he raised tons of money...and that was his goal.

I think you are being unfair. As for LGBTQ...the man was 91...no doubt he carried the prejudices of a lifetime with him...although I only heard of one comment or joke about it...he lost the gig after that...and honestly, less money has been raised since his departure. Most people are a mixture of good and bad.

[tavernier]

38. No good dead goes unpunished.

RIP Mr. Lewis.

[dembotoz]

39. He knew how to get folks to open their wallets. That was his product. He was very good at it

Misery raises cash. Just works that way
Tug at the heartstrings
Jerry was the master.
I have nothing but respect for his results

[FLPanhandle]

43. You can't please some people, especially negative people.

Reminds me of the scene from "The Life of Brian"

"All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us? "

[joeybee12]

47. Some liked him and think he did good, others did not

It's nowhere as clear cut as you suggest

[DemocratSinceBirth]

48. Times change.

[BannonsLiver]

50. Has there been any polling done on this?

[hamsterjill]

57. Lewis came from a time that wasn't quite so politically correct.

I understand that someone with a disability might take offense to Jerry Lewis' comments. But I think this all should be put into proper context. He was 91 yesterday when he passed away, and the world just wasn't as politically correct as it is today.

It's sad, but we are all victims of the times in which we live. As I've aged, I've seen a lot of change, hopefully, for the better, in the treatment of persons with disabilities. I believe we are moving in the right direction for that situation but certainly have ways to go.

I liked Jerry Lewis and I became involved with the muscular dystrophy telethon because of him. I used to sit and wait until he started signing "You'll Never Walk Alone" at the end and I would cry my heart out because I was thinking of the people who couldn't walk and how lucky I was that I could. It made me aware that there were people who yearned for things that I took for granted, and I grew as a human being because of that.

So, say what you will about him. I choose to remember him in a positive light. I think the real issue is, once your time is up on this earth, did you contribute more good or more bad to the world? I think Jerry contributed good.

[mentalsolstice]

61. He made his hateful remarks about PWDs in 2001

He made them in response to criticism of the way he conducted the telethon. Does that remind you of anyone else we all know? How about Trump's response to criticism from the disabled reporter? But when he dies we won't bring that up will we?

[hamsterjill]

62. So we should just discredit all of the good that Lewis did because he made some stupid remarks?

I see a difference in Lewis' remarks versus Trump's remarks.

I do not think Lewis' intention was to "mock" Persons With Disabilities. I do think Trump's intention WAS to mock Person's With Disabilities.

We will have to agree to disagree on this one. Peace to you.

[lunamagica]

69. Would you like to be called half a person?

[hamsterjill]

70. No but I don't think that is what Lewis did.

If you disagree, that is your privilege.

[lunamagica]

71. "I just have to learn to try to be good at being half a person. I may be a full human being in

my heart and soul, yet I am still half a person."

http://www.thekidsareallright.org/story.html

Another gem from him:

"During the 1991 MDA Telethon, Lewis said that if a person is diagnosed with the disability called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS):
"You might as well put a gun in your mouth."

http://www.cripcommentary.com/jlquotes.html

He said this in FRONT of them! How can you defend this?

[hamsterjill]

72. Do you honestly define yourself by one person's comments?

You don't like what he said. Okay, I get that. Let it go.

The man put some good into the world. I'm thankful for that. Was he perfect? No. And neither are you or I.

It's okay that we disagree. The man is dead and I don't think it does any good to berate him now that he's not here to defend himself. Why wasn't this posted before his death if it was such an issue? All the bitching about him now is pointless.

Now, have yourself a nice evening.

[lunamagica]

74. I just think that if someone had said that about blacks, or LGTBs DU would explode

but in this case, it is acceptable

Whatever

[treestar]

58. I dunno, because if he raised the money,

that helped, no matter what his attitude was. He took the time where others did not. And he did not have to do it. His age would make him a lot less PC than we would be. But the money was used - nobody said not to take it due to his attitude.

[mentalsolstice]

63. Look folks, I'm not grave dancing!

I recognize the man had his fans. And as I said in the OP, I hope he rests in peace. However, his death brings an opportunity to dispel a myth. The discussion about JL and his treatment of PWDs has been going on for decades, but because there is very little attention paid to disability issues by those outside of the community, most people were unaware of it.

I am also using the opportunity to start a discussion about the broader issues. Pity can be a soft form of bigotry. It definitely damages the fight for equality. And while I'm all for fundraising for medical research, can you imagine being a child and seeing some of these telethons and being made to feel your very existence isn't a good thing. Imagine if we had telethons for research to make black babies skin lighter, or looking for a medical cure for homosexuality.

[BannonsLiver]

64. Don't most kids with MD know it's a bad situation?

It doesn't seem like anything Lewis has done would exactly be a revelation to one with the disease. I haven't watched the telethon in years but when I did a great deal of time was spent talking about how awful the disease is. What about that is untrue?

[mentalsolstice]

65. Bingo!

How would you feel as a child watching that and being told that you're less than a whole person and your future is bleak? Billions of dollars raised and millions of people made to feel less worthy, less equal in their personhood. That's exactly how JL went about raising money and why he was criticized for decades. That's one of the reasons PWDs are having such a hard time achieving full equality. Surely there's a way to fundraise without putting a negative label on a person who you are raising funds for. Sure certain conditions and diseases are horrible and painful. However, I hate using words like "afflicted" as it takes away from the whole personhood.

[Dbasb]

66. Jerry Lewis

My understanding is that the telethon was intended to raise money for research to cure MD. It wasn't intended to change the perception of those with disabilities. While that's a laudable goal, it wasn't the purpose for the telethon. Making people understand the suffering and difficulty of MD patients demonstrated the great need for funds. Some MD patients have a normal life span and don't suffer greatly. Others die in their teens and do suffer and their families watch them waste away. I only saw the telethon a couple of times, but it seemed like it presented real life issues of people living with the disease. It's a terrible disease and seeing people suffer with it makes you want to do something. I'm sure JL had his faults. But, unless the telethon was a scam and MDA never received the money, I'd say his efforts put him in the positive side of the ledger.

[mentalsolstice]

67. You can raise funds AND treat people as equals and with dignity

That has been the whole point of this discussion. As long as we treat people with pity they will never be viewed as equals.

[dflprincess]

73. THIS

[aikoaiko]

84. But what you said was that he was "never a hero to the disabled community.

I think your blanket condemnation and apparently speaking for the entire disabled community undercut the point you claim you were trying to make.

[milestogo]

76. I think the reaction to Jerry Lewis by PWD was enlightening for a lot of people.

I was pretty young and had a relative with a disability. To me it seemed like a lot of people, including my parents, needed to hear that there was something wrong with the "Jerry's kids" approach in order to get that it was disrespectful.

[aikoaiko]

79. Criticisms to his approach are fair , but it seems like the funds have done a world good for some.

Who else personally led fundraising effort and raised over $2 billion?

Heros aren't perfect - really they never are.

[mvd]

81. It's possible to help by raising a lot of money and still be a jerk

What I have read about Jerry Lewis makes him sound very ignorant. He supported Trump and his refugee policy.

I never paid attention to him much beyond the telethons. But if he influenced Jim Carrey, at least he did that. Carrey is one of my favorites. I like a goofy sense of humor.

[jcmaine72]

82. What a horrible man! Are there any statues of him we can tear down?