MAD HATTER PAGE 8

 

EITHER/OR

I recently attended a workshop on porno-
graphy sponsored by the Coquitlam School-
board and the Coquitlam Teacher's Associa-
tion. The purpose of the workshop was to

/ acquaint members of the public with the
range of sexually explicit material available
at local video outlets and to encourage
residents of Coquitlam to vote YES in a ref-
erendum requesting the provincial Attorney
General to demand that the laws governing
the distribution of such material be en-
forced.

The chairman of the meeting began with the
explanation that they were not concerned
about bringing back the morality of the

| Victorian era; that 'soft' porn was accept-
able, but that films combining sex with
crime, rape, etc., should be prohibited by
law. In this opening statement lay the
greatest weakness in their arguments.

Suppose we label as A, B and C the three
attitudes of ‘absolute purity', 'permissive-
ness with limitations’ and ‘anything goes'
respectively. The people in group A have
been complaining for years that much of the
material available in schools, public
libraries, t.v. and movie theatres simply
does not meet what they see as acceptable
moral standards. Their attitude has been
divided by members of both groups B and C as
being prudish, denying freedom of expression
and choice and smacking of censorship. Now
the memebers of group B seem to think that
things have gone too far. In their argu-
ments, they claim that freedom of expression
and censorship are not involved; that
‘everyone should be able to see that what is
| happening is a danger to society.’ Interest-
‘ingly enough, this is exactly the attitude
originally espoused by group A, but which
was not supported by group B. It would
seem that the middle position has little
ground to stand on since the arguments

| used against group A can be and are now
being used against them. The only positions
that can be defended with any degree of in-
tegrity are either absolute purity or total
depravity.

 

they

 

 

EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

From birth on, many attitudes surround those
with crippling disabilities, and these
attitudes eventually show up, in varying
degrees, as concrete actions on the part of
others. These attitudes shape lives....

If the parents or teacher come to under-
estimate the abilities of such a child, they
may never encourage the children to strive
for goals, or make attempts to live indepen-
dent lives, believing it better to 'protect'
the child from the possibility of failure.

I was such a child.

I was born with Muscular Dystrophy, an in-
herited disorder characterized by progressive
deterioration of muscle tissue into fat.

M.D. begins to demonstrate its presence by
age three, and from that point, there is a
steady and progressive weakness of various
muscles. By age ten, such individuals are
usually confined to a wheelchair.

In it's full blossom, it can be a ravaging
and always deadly disease. But for some
reason, I have so far managed to escape a
rapid breakdown. WHile most victims of M.D.
measure its effects in years, I have only
had to measure its effects in terms of
decades.

Although my case may not be as severe as
some, just being in a wheelchair limits life
choices.

Instead of being allowed to attend high
school, such a person must attend a 'special'
school, where curriculum is limited and
students learn in a 'protected' environment.
Unfortunately, such an atmosphere does not
prepare the special needs student for the
realities of the college setting with its
aspects of competition. If one has never
been previously exposed to such a setting it
can be a devastating culture shock. In many
cases the special needs student is forced to
drop out, as a result of his/her inability to
cope with the demands of the college curric-
ulum.