Thank You Meryl Streep

    Meryl Strep had an empowering speech at the Golden Globes. She used her fame, power, and privilege in Hollywood to advocate for people who are diverse and  people who have disabilities. As I've talked about in my blog before, people often make ignorant assumptions about people who have  mental and physical disabilities and people who have disabilities are still discriminated against a lot.

    Meryl Streep explains we need people in power who will set a better example in how to treat the diverse people who live in this country, including those who have disabilities. She said that the one performance that shocked her was" that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter. Someone he outranked in privilege, power and the capacity to fight back.”

    Streep was talking about Trump’s comment during his campaign, when he seemed to be mocking New York Times reporter Serge F. Kovaleski, who has arthrogryposis.

     She continues by saying, “And this instinct to humiliate, when it’s modeled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody’s life, because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing. Disrespect invites disrespect (and) violence incites violence .When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose."

     As Ally Putvin, author of To Meryl Streep, From a Young Woman With a Disability
 said addressing Meryl Streep ," Thank you for using your privilege to fight for those who are vulnerable. Thank you for showing a disabled young woman that you are ready and willing to fight for her and anyone else who can’t fight for themselves."

     As a person who has a disability, I know the struggle of being discriminated against or having people assume ignorant things about me. But I have learned to advocate for myself and I use my experiences to advocate for others who have disabilities as well. We are not always as vulnerable as people may think and we often are able to fight for ourselves more than people may think. But we also need help because when we empower each other and fight for each other, we become more powerful. We also become more powerful when people who have more influence and privilege, stand up for us too. As Meryl Strep said, we have a responsibility and privilege to have empathy for one another.

 Meryl Streep ends her speech with a beautiful Princess Leia quote, "Take your broken heart, make into art."

Here is a link to this speech if you want to here the whole thing:
https://www.facebook.com/HollywoodReporter/videos/10154058510677750/?pnref=story