I Choose Dign!ty

I spent about $100 on clothes today. I feel bad.

Because of the nature of my job, I'm going to be doing a lot of summer fun activities, and due to the fact that I've been working in factories over the summer previously, my wardrobe is equipped to deal with factory-safe work and only very occasional summer leisure. So today I bought two pairs of shorts, a swimsuit, three T-shirts, sandals, running shoes, a wide-brimmed hat, and six pairs of socks.

I have so many shoes now. I have dress shoes, casual dress shoes, running shoes, slippers, and sandals. Feels frivolous.

Last Thursday, I went on a walk initiated by Extend-a-Family called the "I Choose Dign!ty Rally" We started at the EaF office and went to City Hall. There were speeches, food, music and celebration. There was an emphasis on asking society to acknowledge people labeled with development disabilities as able and worthwhile members of our community, but any community that felt a need to voice their decision to choose dignity was invited.

Shout-out to the LGBTQ ,community who marched with us and organized a speech. A common problem is that people detach themselves from events associated with people labeled with developmental disabilities in fear that they will be associated with the label. But two years in a row, LGBTQ has marched side-by-side in this movement fearless of being labeled virtue association, and has organized speakers to speak on behalf of their community.