<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Ballastexistenz]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://ballastexistenz.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[Mel Baggs]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://ballastexistenz.wordpress.com/author/ameliabaggs/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Thankful for stuff people shouldn&#8217;t have to&nbsp;be.]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p>Everyone&#8217;s doing posts about what they&#8217;re thankful for, on Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m thankful for things that nobody should consciously have to be thankful for.  I&#8217;m thankful that I have a family who has never once thought of killing me or justifying the deaths of people like me.  I&#8217;m thankful for the fact that the people who did try, didn&#8217;t succeed.  I&#8217;m thankful that I have a few friends who, unlike it seems the majority of the world, don&#8217;t think there&#8217;s anything about autistic people that remotely justifies other people killing us, and don&#8217;t spend their time sitting around sympathizing with the people who do.  And I&#8217;m thankful for the existence of organizations like <a href="http://www.notdeadyet.org/">Not Dead Yet</a>, that at least <em>attempt</em> to get what shouldn&#8217;t be a minority voice, that of disabled people who understand how far our lives are being devalued by this justification-talk, out there.</p>
<p>And if you&#8217;re still despite all the evidence of how much damage it does, going to justify this stuff?  I&#8217;d be really thankful if you&#8217;d do it on somebody <em>else&#8217;s</em> server, and somebody <em>else&#8217;s</em> webspace, if you&#8217;re going to do it at all.  As in, not here.  There are more places where you can get away with that kind of bullcrap than places you can&#8217;t &#8212; if you&#8217;re that keen on it, go find one.</p>
]]></html></oembed>