I never had heard this story before. I was moved by it but decided to do some due diligence. The premise of the story is true but there are some inaccuracies. Read the story at the Huffington Riposte first and then come back and click the link to the Snopes story.

In a supermarket, Kurtis the stock boy, was busily working when a new voice came over the loud speaker asking for a carry out at register 4. Kurtis was almost finished, and wanted to get some fresh air, and decided to answer the call.

As he approached the check-out stand a distant smile caught his eye, the new check-out girl was beautiful, he recognized her as someone he had met in college and he fell in love…. read the full article

Read the clarified story at Snopes.com

43 years ago on a warm summer evening my parents sent me along with my older brother and younger sister a few blocks away to the Anderson Avenue trolley stop to meet a man by the name of Henry Varlack and walk him to our home for dinner. Henry Varlack was a radio announcer on WFLN a classical radio station in Philadelphia. A seemingly minor task that still stays with me 43 years later. I don’t even know if my siblings recollect this. I’ll send them this link and see what they say.

Henry was an African American.

We lived in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, at the time an all white suburban community.

My parents message still resonates with me. The gist of it was they wanted us to meet and walk with him not only to show him where we lived but so people could see that he was with people “who belonged”. I was too young at the time to entirely grasp that but as I grew older I got it. At that time in America a African American did not belong in a white suburban community.

This was only one of many instances of how our parents exposed us to inclusivity, diversity and that prejudice was wrong. A couple years later in 1967 we were living in the heart of urban Philadelphia. What a dynamic time to be a kid in a major urban center in a country coming out of a civil rights movement into an anti-war movement. It was’nt all gumdrops and lollipops and we didn’t live perfect idyllic lives but oh what a strange trip it was …

Today Barack Obama an African American man took the oath of office as the 44th president of the United States of America. So many American’s laid the groundwork for this to happen. As I watched the inauguration ceremonies on my computer at work today I was moved by the sea of humanity spread across the mall. Countless faces “who belonged”. So many historic figures have laid the ground work for this to come to pass. So did many ordinary Americans including my parents who did their part and I am thankful.

I wish my father had lived to see this historic time come to pass so I could share this with him. I learned from some googling that Henry Varlack passed away in 2006 at the age of 65. My mother who is going strong up in New Hampshire is having an inauguration party at her home tonight!! You go girl!!!!

There is so much work to be done so people in the disabilities community can join the “who belong”. People with disabilities belong in the community as our neighbors, as patrons in our libraries, as customers in our businesses, in jobs as our co-workers, in schools as classmates. What a great opportunity we have ahead of us to build on the hard work of those who came before us.

“Teach your children what you believe in. Make a world that we can live in.”
-excerpt from “Teach Your Children”, Crosby Stills Nash Young

There has been a flurry of reports coming from Australia about the case of Dr. Bernard Moeller and his son, Lucas but apparently the story does not end there. There are other families that answered the call of the Australian government to bring their skills to a country that is experiencing shortages of skilled professionals. Now these families and their supporters are put in a postion to make appeals to the government to keep their families from being uprooted.

1. An employee of Nedlands Golf Club says he must leave the country within 28 days because the club will sponsor him but not his family.

His only other choice is to stay in Nedlands while his wife and daughter, who has Down syndrome, leave the country.

The club says it has no obligation to add the family of an employee to his extended work visa application.

Simon Tipple, a greenkeeper at the club, has been told that while the club will sponsor his visa application, it will not sponsor his family.

Mr Tipple’s daughter Abigail was born in Australia 20 months after he and wife Catharina arrived in Perth from the UK.
http://www.postnewspapers.com.au/20081108/news/002.shtml

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2. A HIGHLY regarded British midwife is being forced out of Australia because her Down syndrome child is considered a financial burden.
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,27574,24622247-2761,00.html

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3. Dr Bernhard Moeller moved with his family to Australia two and a half years ago to help fill a doctor shortage.

Dr Moeller has a temporary 457 visa which is valid until 2010, but has been denied permanent residency because the department believes his 13-year-old son Lukas would be a drain on the health system.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24580211-2862,00.html

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Down Syndrome Victoria stated in a press release in response to the Moeller case …
“No account is taken of the many ways in which people with Down syndrome and their families make a valuable contribution to the life of the community, she said It is outrageous that, in the same year the Australian Government ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, it is effectively stripping this young man of his human rights.”

I don’t know alot about the culture of Australia, the goverment or the state of services for the disabled but this just plain stinks.

Refusing application for permanent residence in Australia on the basis of the cost to the taxpayers is outrageous and likely these three instances are just the tip of the iceburg.

Related Story in Canada …
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1042628/Emigrating-British-family-turned-away-Canada-daughter-7-disabled.html

Babies Perfect and Imperfect
by Amy Julia Becker
Copyright (c) 2008 First Things (November 2008).

Our daughter was born at 5:22 p.m. on December 30, 2005. Two hours later, a nurse called my husband out of the room. When he returned, he took my hand and said, “They think Penny has Down syndrome.” As this news began to make its way into my consciousness, we heard shouts from the room next door. Another child had been born. “She’s perfect!” someone exclaimed about that other baby. “She’s perfect!” ….Read More