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I'm kinda disappointed...there have been over 400 viewings of the project but only 100 nominations...we need to get over 2,000 by the end of the weekend if possible....

I just posted the comment below because last year the nastys who wanted to plant a million trees came over and said such bizarre stuff that I wanted to 'try' to stop them from being so rude.

----go post your own comment:

http://www.membersproject.com/project/view/SJT6WB

Mine says:

Never has a positive disability awareness campaign been more needed than now!

Some facts about the history and current culture that people with disabilities face, clipped from a Washington Post articled (you can read the entire article here: http://tinyurl.com/6dk2ev )

Over the past 35 years, the legal landscape has been transformed. In 1975, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act granted children with disabilities the right to a public education, and the federal government pledged to pay a substantial portion of local special-education costs. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 prohibited discrimination against the disabled. A group of people who'd been invisible emerged to work toward taking their rightful place in society.

We've come a long way, but we still have far to go. There are still 38,000 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities housed in institutions nationwide. The federal government hasn't kept its promise to fund special education, and millions of children across the country remain poorly served or not served at all.

Meanwhile, adults with intellectual disabilities are on waiting lists for independent living services all over the country; one recent report estimated more than 100,000 in Texas alone. These adults are largely unemployed and frequently live in poverty. Experts estimate that fewer than 20 percent of those of working age are employed, even though research shows that they are reliable and effective workers when given support and matched with appropriate jobs.

On top of all this is the problem of negative public attitudes. Recent research conducted by the University of Massachusetts found that, if given a choice, more than half of young people wouldn't spend time with a student with an intellectual disability. More than half of parents didn't want such students at their children's school. Almost half of the young people surveyed wouldn't sit next to an intellectually disabled student on a school bus.

---end clip---

This is our opportunity to make the voices of people with Intellectual Disabilities heard. This is our opportunity to show how truly Tolerant, Inclusive and Accepting you are! Thanks to everybody who nominates this Project!

And to anybody who chooses to disparage this project with negative comments I would like you to ask yourself these questions:

Do I have a FRIEND with an intellectual disability?

Am I prejudiced against people with intellectual disabilities?

What do I actually 'know' about people with intellectual disabilities first hand, and not from negative media images?

Please don't show us your prejudice in your comments.

Thank you,

, Mom to 14, DS, Southern CaliforniaTo succeed in life,you need three things:a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone.~ Reba McIntyre

Diagnosis Down Syndrome: A Site of Hope for New Parents or Parents with a Prenatal Diagnosishttp://www.leeworks.net/DDS/What to Say to Parents of a Child with a Diagnosishttp://www.leeworks.net/DDS/speech.html