in which I am terribly politically incorrect

Ah, Boston Sunday Globe, endless blog entry generator, what would I do without you?

Today there's a small article about handicap access and lack thereof. The Charles Playhouse, where the Blue Men Group perform, has many stairs, which people in wheelchairs must be carried up. The article mentions a young man, about my son's age, who is in a heavy motorized wheelchair due to muscular dystrophy, who thus is unable to go see the Blue Man Group. I am supposed to feel...I dunno, something...about this.

Well, this is what I feel. My son is handicapped too. His handicap is psychiatric, not physical. Despite being on a potent cocktail of the strongest antipsychotic there is, plus antianxiolytics, and antidepressants, going to crowded public places, full of strangers, is incredibly anxiety-producing for him, inducing near paranoia. He deals with it for things that he has to do, doctor's appointments, trips to the blood lab. A necessary visit to the Registry earlier this summer required weeks of psyching himself up to get through it.

Would he like the Blue Man Group? Oh, yeah, I know he'd get a huge kick out of them. He'd also love to go to a Red Sox game again. Despite being a huge movie fan, he hasn't seen one at the cinema for four years--28 Days Later being the last, if you wanna know. All those kinds of things we all take for granted in being able to do are out of his reach right now. Does that mean that maybe there should be a special performance at the Charles Playhouse or a special game at Fenway, played before no more than 20 people, so his rights as a handicapped person aren't infringed on? Uh, hardly.

That's why it's called a handicap. There are things you cannot do. Did the universe kick you in the nuts by giving you muscular dystrophy or schizoaffective disorder? Hell, yeah. Does that mean you have a constitutional right to see the Blue Man Group? Hell, no. Places you *need* to go--hospitals, banks, supermarkets, the Registry--should be sensitive to making sure everyone can use their services.

Theaters, not so much, you know?

xoxo