Segen

One of my friends here in Berlin is a film producer for a company called ElementarFilm and recently finished a documentary about a farm on the outskirts of Berlin where people with mental disabilities can live and work. The film,“Schoene Blonde Augen,” which means, “Beautiful Blonde Eyes,” takes the viewer through the day-to-day life of the disabled residents at the farm. Day-to-day life includes chores—such as chopping wood, tending to sheep, fixing fences and play—which includes hanging out with friends and participating in theater productions.

One of the theater productions the residents were working on dealt with the theme of “birth.” The residents had the opportunity to speak with a mid-wife and ask questions about the birth of babies and the group later went to a local hospital to see new-borns up close. After the Q & A with the mid-wife and field trip, the residents were ready to perform their rendition of a birth while rehersing for a play. Both men and women actors stuffed their bellies with pillows, practiced lamaze, and stood by their “significant other” while he or she enacted childbirth. When one of the babies was “born,” one of the residents who swaddled a bundle of towels remarked, “Oh, what beautiful blond eyes!” It was really sweet to watch this.

After play practice, many of the residents began to discuss what it would actually be like to bear children. Most of the residents—who ranged in age from about 20 to 50—said they wanted to be parents and yearned to have babies. What was really interesting to hear was nearly all of the people who wanted babies wished that it would be “normal.”

During a discussion with the producer, he noted that the farm residents should have children if they wanted to—because giving birth was a human right.

I had to sincerely question whether there is a “human right” which includes the right to reproduce. In my view, a rational human who has little or no capacity to take care of him or herself would not choose to bring a child into the world—to me, this seems more like a “human” response to this conundrum.

Since many of the people at the farm lack the capacity to ration, should other rational people make the choice for them (as in, for the disabled residents not to bear children), or is there some higher order of a “human right” lurking out there that supersedes this notion? Rational people make this choice all the time when we choose to spay or neuter our “irrational” house-pets. Spaying and neutering is even considered a humane and ethical element of caring for pets—as it reduces many health risks and ensures that the pet will not contribute to pet-animal overpopulation. Is it wrong to extrapolate this idea to irrational humans?

The question that comes next is, “How does one decide who is and who is not irrational by mental disability?” That is a good question that has really thrown me off a lot. Many societies over time have found a definition for this and made the decision to sterilize people. History tells us that many people dubbed mentally disabled and who were later sterilized were in fact, wrongly labeled as such.

But in terms of the people living at this particular farm near Berlin, who need special supervision and assistance to function in their daily lives and who are wards of the state, should rational people make their decision to bear children for them? Certainly none of these residents would be eligible to be adoptive parents by state standards.

The people who manage the farm already have chosen for their residents—the women living at the farm are all given birth control pills—which to me is just a nicer, *seemingly*-less-concrete form of sterilization anyway.

Would you like to travel all over the world–meeting locals and staying on their couch–for free? If so, I recommend that you check out “Couch surfing”. The CouchSurfing website allows you to find members across the globe who are interested in meeting travelers. Some couch surfers just want to meet up for coffee–and give you the “local” tour of where you are visiting–and other couch surfers will allow you to crash on their couch/guest bedroom for free for a few days. People can view profiles of couch surfer members to see if they can find someone with similar interests to hang out with while traveling. I highly recommend this website to travelers.

Another heinous “honor killing” in Germany: a 16 year old German girl of Afghan descent was stabbed 20 times by her older brother. Her crime? She became “too German” and was a disgrace to her family’s honor. This is another sickening notch on Germany’s belt of numerous honor killings and violence towards Muslim women. German-born girls as young as 12 years old are forced to spiritually marry and then legally marry at age 18, women are not allowed to leave their homes, must cover themselves at all times, and not assume any Western identities or they risk beatings with hockey sticks, burnings with gasoline, chokings with wires, drownings in bathtubs, stabbings with knives and axes, and shootings. Western-born women are so fearful of their families and cultures that the practice of hymen restoration or “revirgination” has become a common practice for Muslim women who have had sex before marriage. The 3,000 Euro procedure is a small price to pay in the face of death at the hands of their oppressive home cultures and religions.

Why are such repressive actions towards women happening in Europe? Europe already went through the sexual revolution in the 1960s. Women already fought society, culture, and the law to gain more sexual freedom—meaning, not the ability to be promiscuous, but rather ability to date, to marry who they want, to divorce, to use birth-control, to abort, to engage in premarital sex, to not be required to be a virgin at marriage, to be protected against sexual discrimination and harassment, and so on and so further without the disapproval of society or non-secular laws. Why do these ideals not apply to Europe’s Muslim population? How can Europe allow such discrimination in a continent that began liberal thought, fiercely promoted individual freedoms, and demanded secularity? My hunch is that Europe does not want to admit it has an immigration “problem” and ignores minority populations altogether—including atrocious violence against women. When Europe cannot ignore immigrant groups, it handles them with a light touch, as not to be perceived as racists or “Nazis.”

How can European women who are suffering—by Western standards—at the hands of their oppressive culture and religion be helped? First of all—European laws for monstrous crimes must be enforced (unlike the case where a German judge cited Islam law and condoned wife beatings for a Muslim couple). Perhaps a law like a “hate crime” law can be adopted in Europe with stricter enforcement and harsher punishments for religious or culturally motivated violence. Secondly–patriarchal family structures in Muslim communities must be rethought: women must be able to earn their own money if they want to, they should have access to education, have the ability to choose when they want to bear children, have access to childcare, and to be encouraged to assimilate into European society—with European laws protecting and guaranteeing all of these freedoms.

Encouraging and protecting European assimilation of Muslim men and women is very important in realizing a Europe with fewer “honor killings”. Immigrants should know that when in Europe, they must do as the Europeans do—including adopting the culture, values, and laws. European states—Germany in particular—will never become “salad bowls” of mixed cultures like in the United States. The United States is a nation of immigrants where acceptance of others was key to survival in this new land; this accepting attitude is now a part of American culture. Europe is more culturally homogenous than the US—with its culture based on family ties and a strong sense of history. Europe stands by its traditions and will make few concessions to integrate those of other cultures. This resistance to integrate cultures has led to the divided Europe that exists today—Europeans living amongst pockets of cohesive and largely ignored immigrant groups (think of the immigrants in violent suburban Paris ghettos). European countries must begin to vehemently promote assimilation of their immigrant populations to change a culture that accepts “honor killings” as fact. Assimilation means teaching national languages, requiring education and improving educational standards in immigrant communities, integrating native Europeans with immigrant communities the public sphere, offering job training, providing incentives for assimilation, and including special protections and programs for women in particular.

A federal appeals court ruled recently that the United States discriminates against the blind and those with limited vision because its paper currency is all the same size regardless of a bill’s value. This could mean that the dollar bill and its 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 dollar counterparts will be getting a completely new design.

The new design will incorporate features that help visually impaired people distinguish more easily between the different bank notes. This can be achieved through different sizes for different bills, various colors, and imprints that can be felt to distinguish the value of the currency.

The European Union’s Euro banknotes already incorporate designs to help the visually impaired. As the Euro increases in value, so does the size of the banknote. So the 5 Euro banknote is the smallest and the 500 Euro banknote is the largest. The Euros also alternate in color with each monetary increment (5, 10, 20, 50, etc)–going from “cool” colors to “warm” colors. The smaller currencies also have a metal strip that can be easily felt and all currencies have special ink on the denomination numbers so that sensitive fingers can feel the difference between the other ink.

I hope that the United States will incorporate some of the designs of the Euro, so that all people will be able to handle their own money (currently, many blind people rely on others to tell them the denomination of the dollars they handle). Although it will be a difficult transition for the United States to switch to currency with new bank note designs (vending machines, wallets, cash registers), I think it will be a great statement about the United States’ commitment to equality for the disabled.

Many of you probably have heard about the recent deadly earthquake in China. I was looking at some photographs of the situation on the New York Times website. I came across this photograph of two boys trapped in the rubble. The caption for this photo is “Boys trapped under a collapsed building awaited rescue”

This photo of these two boys who are not being helped by the photographer reminds me of artist Banky’s rendition of a similar theme:

Let’s stop treating people–especially children–like news stories. They are humans–who are suffering and need assistance more than they need glamor shots.