Million Dollar Baby and Values
February, 2005

From Andrew Imparato,
President and CEO
American Association of People with Disabilities:

"When movie directors like Clint Eastwood incorporate a gratuitous plot twist that reinforces the shallow notion that life with a spinal cord injury is a fate worse than death—as in 'Million Dollar Baby'--we must speak out. When people have their lives stolen because the only choice the State Medicaid program is willing to give them is isolation in a nursing home or other institution, we must question the values underlying that program. When our public policy expects disabled youth to retire onto Supplemental Security Income benefits upon turning 18, swearing to the government that their disability prevents them from working, we have no choice but to question the morality of such a system.

"Any policy that deters or prevents full participation of people with disabilities in the economic, political, social, and religious lives of their communities is inherently suspect. It is my hope that, by reframing our agenda as a question of basic values, the disability rights movement will gain new allies, persuade more policymakers and voters, and ultimately reinforce the core tenet of many faiths and of American culture that all people are created equal and that every life has value and dignity. To use Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s language, 'Everybody can be great because anybody can serve.' "

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