Anger and complacency

[KamaAina]

I just completed the first session of a disability rights systems advocacy training. My question (all right, the woman down the hall's question, but as the site coordinator, I submitted it) had to do with how we could get young people with disabilities motivated to become policymakers.

The response:

"The young people I've worked with suffer from anger and complacency, together: everything is NOT all right, and there's not a d--n thing I can do about it!"

Hmmm... sounds like a lot of people who don't have disabilities.

If we could break through this bizarre anger-complacency duo, and get these people motivated to do something with all that anger, then...

No more Bush*! Back to his job at, uh, er, oh right, he screwed them all up -- but you know what I mean! We could sweep the whole lot of 'em out of there like so many mouse turds, if only...

if only we could figure out how to break though the anger 'n' complacency (angacency? complanger?)

Your thoughts?

[sangh0]

1. Baby steps

Find small tasks with a high likelihood of success. It helps people feel empowered. IMO, the "anger and complacency" you see is the result of people feeling powerless.

Before people will even try to change things, they have to feel that they CAN change things. Maybe they can organize and lobby a local official for something small, but important to them.

[Iris]

2. wow! I was just thinking along these lines today!

Seems like that's what most people do. Get angry and then angrily accept that the way things are is simply the way things are. I wonder why that's easier?

I must admit, though, I no longer have any desire to discuss anything political with the angry, complacent people around me. I've decided to be sort of Minnesotan (which, according to Garrison Keillor, means you don't feel like you have the right to force your politics on those around you) in my views. If someone directly asks me what I think about things, I will tell them. But I'm not going to be a sounding board from a diatribe made up of clips from the latest talk radio personality.

So, I guess I am complacent but I am working on channeling my anger in other ways. The one cause I will continue to speak up about is the war on the poor. I refuse to listen to people talk about poor people as if they are barely human.

I am interested in seeing what kind of comments/suggestions this thread generates.

[KamaAina]

3. Here are his suggestions

Teach the youngsters the history of the disability rights movement (analog: the history of all popular movements such as civil rights, feminism etc.)

Show them the important figures in the history of the movement (in disability rights, Ed Roberts, Judy Heumann, Justin Dart; none of you have ever heard of any of them, have you?) (analog: MLK, RFK, Stonewall, Chicago 7, others too numerous to mention)

Point out what it took to get from the bad old days to where we are today. (analog: footage of the hired goons who stopped the vote count in Miami?)