May 16, 2007

Aren't There More Important Things For Disability Advocates To Worry About?

From the Patriot-News of Pennsylvania:

Heidi Notario-Smull cringes every day when she drives along Cameron Street and sees one of the signs posted along the busy corridor.

The sign marks Asylum Run, a creek that starts in Lower Paxton Twp. and winds through the grounds of the former Harrisburg State Hospital in Susquehanna Twp., eventually emptying into Paxton Creek.

But it's just not a sign for a creek -- the name perpetuates negative stereotypes of people who live with mental disabilities, said Notario-Smull, an advocate specialist with the Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania.

Her agency and a dozen more like it have been trying to get the creek's name changed to Recovery Run, which Notario-Smull said better characterizes the focus of today's mental health care system.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Some people just actively look for something to offend them.

Anonymous said...

"But it's just not a sign for a creek -- the name perpetuates negative stereotypes of people who live with mental disabilities,"

Maybe change it to Cho Seung-Hu Run