No, you can't have my rights - I'm still using them

This morning I saw a pin.

The pin said, "No, you can't have my rights - I'm still using them."

At first I just sort of giggled to myself and thought, "that's pretty clever." But then, as I sat down to work on an article for the magazine, I started to think about what the pin was really saying and it bothered me.

So often we joke about the things we truly mean, but are uncomfortable talking about. It's a way to make a statement without being held entirely accountable for it. Was the button as funny as I originally thought? Or as clever?

My rights are so ingrained in me, so willingly given, that I rarely if ever think about them. I spend my money the way I want, I go to bed when I feel like it, I eat what I want and when, I drive my car, I go on vacation, I talk on the phone, I pick out the clothes I wear each and every day. These are simple, small rights that I take for granted because I do them without thought, without asking for permission. I want to stay up and watch a movie even though I need to get up in the morning and go to work? No problem. I want to eat cereal for dinner tonight? Can do.

Do people with disabilities have the same rights? Or do they have the rights "we" think they should have? Or only a few rights because those other rights are just a little too much for them to handle?

People with disabilities should have the right to happiness, and unhappiness. Sure, I can stay up late and watch the movie but I'll be tired the next day. And of course, if I only eat cereal for dinner I will most likely be hungry, but those are my consequences and I have a right to them. The same goes for someone with a disability, they should have the right to make good, and bad, decisions, just like anybody else.

They should have their rights, period the end.

Each day in this role, I find myself impressed time and time again with self-advocates, who are out there taking risks and doing what they can to make the world a more accepting and better place for all people with disabilities. They are out there fighting for their rights.

For me, there is great peace in knowing that they are paving the way for tomorrow, and that children with disabilities may have fewer obstacles to overcome in their lives because people with disabilities are tackling those obstacles right now.

All this, from a little pin.
-- Sam J.