By BA Haller© Media dis&dat
The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) telethon hosted each Labor Day by Jerry Lewis has long been controversial in the disability community.
Protests against by disability activists have been an annual event for years. Groups such as Jerry's Orphans, as a response to Jerry's kids, have long protested that the telethon encourages pity for people with disabilities and infantilizes them. Jerry Lewis has come under fire for saying many hurtful things about people with disabilities over the years as well. (He has called a person with disability "half a person" and wheelchairs "steel imprisonment.")
You can see a national news story about Jerry's Orphans here. Also, the disability community protested the Academy Award given to Jerry Lewis as a "Humanitarian" in February 2009. Here are videos of the protests.
Another tradition that was always part of the MDA telethon was Jerry Lewis or a disabled child on the cover of the Sunday newspaper insert Parade magazine to promote the telethon.
This year it wasn't there.
Tom Angleberger, a columnist for The Roanoke Times in Virginia, answered a reader's question about Parade's missing MDA cover, and said:
It's true that Parade didn't feature muscular dystrophy research in its Labor Day weekend issue. That's because they did it a week early this year.
"On Aug. 30, Parade ran a cover story on medical research called 'Discoveries That Can Save Your Life,' " explained Janice Kaplan, editor of Parade. "The researcher on the cover was Dr. Eric Hoffman, director of genetic medical research at the Children's National Medical Center in [Washington] D.C."
Inside, there was a section about muscular dystrophy and a plug for Jerry Lewis' annual telethon.
"So please do let your reader know that Parade's support for medical research is stronger than ever," Kaplan wrote.
It's interesting that Kaplan said the magazine was supporting medical research, not MDA specifically. A disabled child was featured on the cover of Parade magazine promoting the MDA telethon as recently as 2006 (pictured).
Given all the controversy over the MDA telethon over the years, I have noticed fewer and fewer local TV stations carrying it, which I personally think is a good thing.
Every organization has the right to raise funds, but to me, telethons are a relic of a bygone TV era and many telethon tactics can be very demeaning to people with disabilities.
So here's hoping that this Parade MDA cover omission signals an understanding of just how hurtful a pity approach to fundraising can be for people with disabilities.
