By Yuri Bahti
Arizona Daily Wildcat
October 10, 1997

Underlying ignorance

Editor:

This letter is in response to Jennifer McKean's Oct. 7 commentary. Towards the end of the first column she states, "..that every person,..handicapped or whole, has valued life given to him by God." Handicapped or whole? While I'd like to believe that she didn't mean that people who are handicapped are not 'whole', I have trouble believing a journalism junior would even make this mistake. While this might seem like splitting hairs or an attempt to change the focus of her article, it is nothing of the sort. People with disabilites have fought hard to change long-standing public biases and prejudices. This is the basis of the 1993 Americans with Disabilities Act. This piece of legislation can never be actualized if perceptions cannot be changed. A slip of the tounge can sometimes be an indicator of underlying ignorance. This is what troubles me about McKean's commentary.

Yuri Bahti
Psychology junior