Adam Dzialo

Adam Dzialo
Our son, Adam Dzialo, age 30

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Au cœur, sans cœur un vrai ... An Open Letter from Adam

If Dr. House finds your statements, assumptions or beliefs
about "personhood" to be stupid or annoying, he will mock you!
Judging by his face, someone is about to pout and whine.

Dear Blogger Au Coeur,

      I am having my dad, speaking for me, respond to your initial comments in huff post and further elaborated upon in your blog about what makes me a "non-person human."  My dad has been my voice and my personal warrior for the past thirteen years.  In the first 12 years of my life as a real person (according to the likes of Amber), somewhat useful to society,  Dad was there for me and helped me with my own battles of "coming into my own."  A near drowning interrupted things as we knew them, as I was underwater for 25 minutes.  I died and was resuscitated.  I am unable to speak, unable to walk, unable to move independently.  I can do nothing for myself and in your words I guess I'm a "turnip." Amber, in her blog told the world quite dispassionately that " My understanding of this situation is that persons who suffer some sort of traumatic injury significant enough to take away their personhood will never be capable of regaining it and are most likely to live in their current state until death."   This turnip is thriving because of the unconditional love from my parents.

       Your words and your echoes of Mary Anne Warren's convoluted and thoroughly shallow musings from the mid 70's hurt me and my parents very much.  I know that you were threatened by an emotional response from my dad to a very sophomoric and inane definition of personhood attributed to the illogical and flawed think of a Mary Anne Warren .  You should have looked to the words of JC Superstar first for guidance on personhood. You know "what you do for the least of my brethren you do for me."Matt 25:40 This dude valued the least of mankind as he viewed himself. Cool!

      While the blatantly unethical and inhumane propositions forwarded by this mindless philosopher (Warren) are inculcated and accepted into your arguments, you are clear to send me the message that I am "a non-person human" because I was diagnosed initially in a persistent vegetative state .  I assume that you have not studied  neuroplasticity in your undergraduate courses.  Your words and thoughts hurt me very much and reinforced and allied with the very forces that discriminate against the disabled. You say that I am not a person, I am not worthy of the same rights as every person, I am dispensable when measured against others.  You allude that dolphins and chimps are worthy of more rights that I am.   I guess that world view would place you in the same bed with utilitarian philosophy.

       I remind you that you are a  young girl.  I am older than you and so is my sister, Aimee.  Your implication that I am not a person offends me, my parents and every other severely disabled person and their parents.  You perpetuate stereotypes which are too numerous to mention.  I can forgive your lack of empathy because of your youth and absence of experience with the disabled.  You like philosophical argument for its own sake, regardless of who you shit on.  That's a very sad position for a young girl to take.  To consider that you even say your own child was not a person till three months old offends every parent I have ever met.  You are a young girl saying foolish things.  People who fail to see the consequences of their words lack empathy and human compassion.

       So, let's look at the lunatic ideas of Warren and how they apply to me:  I cannot prove consciousness to you or my ability to feel pain (does suffering the pain of contractures in silence qualify?), but I would probably laugh hysterically if I met you in person.  I cannot prove that I can reason and solve relatively complex problems.  I certainly am not self-motivated, except that I want to stay happy and enjoy my  existence.  Can't really communicate or demonstrate my self-concept, especially my awareness as part of a group with the exception that my disability makes me invisible to most people and the older I get the more invisible I become.  Thanks for making me feel whole, equal and worthy of life and deserving of the same rights as all people.  I have few medical complications except that my basal ganglia got fried underwater; that's kind of a big problem.

      My dad got shut down by you because he a strong man who would give his life for me and also that he swears a lot. I take it the young girl disdains a few swears.  Usually he can't finish a sentence without a fuck or goddamn being included.  He is incapable of rational ideological discourse when it comes to me because you see he loves me without condition and would give his life so I could live.  I would, of course, reciprocate.  So, by your criteria, I am a "non-person human".  My simple response which fails the polite test is "fuck you".

       Warren's criteria of personhood reflects a utilitarian view of people originally applied to fetuses and extended to perhaps younger children who have not yet attained personhood.    If a less than three month old isn't a person yet, you can kill 'em?  I think, little girl, it's called infanticide no matter how you bake it. You were pretty clear when you stated :"potential person, but most certainly not a person. Actually seeing day in and day out what an infant is like made me truly understand and agree with Warren’s argument."  Does that make my dog a potential person?  If so, he has more rights than I?

        None of Warren's criteria for personshood have any objective, scientific, peer-reviewed ways of measurement.  Determinations would be guesses by people who feel disabled people like me are dispensable...just kill 'em, what the hell, they aren't really people.  If they aren't real persons, we as a society have no responsibility for them.  This is pure, unabashed utilitarianism...if it doesn't advance the cause of our great society get rid of it.

       How the hell could you expect to confront any parent who has given their lives to care for a disabled kid or adult and not have them devolve into a psychotic rant...emotional responses are unacceptable to a child as yourself.   Warren's definitions are pure bullshit as are Pete Singer's.  Again Hitchens says: "That which can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof."  Oops, there go all your philosophical arguments.  They are the very same arguments which allowed for the mass involuntary sterilizations of developmentally delayed women in the 20's, arguments which justified Aktion T-4 in the late 30's and early 40's where over 250,000 disabled were killed, and support most genocidal and eugenic movements around the globe. Remember Rwanda where the Hutu extremists killed almost a million Tutsi and moderate Hutu people.  It was ok, they weren't really people.  Indifference to human life in any of its varied forms breeds a culture of the acceptance of the disposable human.


“We must not see any person as an abstraction. Instead, we must see in every person a universe with its own secrets, with its own treasures, with its own sources of anguish, and with some measure of triumph.” 

― Elie Wiesel

       Flawed philosophical arguments about what constitutes personhood contribute to every evil in our society: women were less people than men; gays are lesser people and (innately disordered ) compared to hetero's; poor people are less entitled than the wealthy; in China, males are valued more than females; and in the area of religions, everyone will not be saved unless they belong to your religion. Suicide bombing of innocents is ok, because the infidels are not really persons. Your thesis about extending Warren's flawed and ill-conceived definitions of personhood contribute to the evil and inequality of society.  Evil always has a philosophical root and ideological justification.

       Intelligence and personhood is over-rated,  " There is and has always been an unusually high and consistent correlation between the stupidity of a given person and that person's propensity to be impressed by the measurement of IQ."  (Hitchens, in Nation, 11.28.94)  Uncritically agreeing with Warren is tantamount to a vested belief in virgin births and miracles.  The unexamined life is certainly characteristic of many people.

       The thing which fries my ass the most is the absence of empathy for the stories of disability which you were confronted with.  There was no demonstration of compassion or empathy for these parents or their kids...all you desired was to babble about disingenuous philosophy.  How about reflecting about how the definitions of "non-person humans" deeply hurt parents of disabled kids.  You would frankly have to be quite ignorant to think that a visceral verbal response would not be forth-coming.  You would have to oblivious to believe that people would see an absence of empathy and obviously you would have to be quite ill-mannered that you could believe your words would not wound the hearts of the most vulnerable.  Defining "personhood" should die a quick death as these beliefs had led to most of the horrors of society perpetrated by people on other people: genocide, eugenics, racial purity, discrimination, and on.  All these social ills are predicated upon the belief that some people are better than other people, some people have rights higher than those of others, that some people are closer to god than others.
       So people spew an unfounded ideology, and invariably others must die and suffer.  It is the entitled who spew the ideology, always unproven and unprovable.  Let's euthanize a few more...they're not really people.

       My name is Adam.  I love my parents and my sister unconditionally; and they love me unconditionally.  They can see my soul in my eyes and I can see their souls.  I think at all times and ponder serious questions.  I go to places that you could never dream of...I am a person, I love and I feel.  Do you feel?  The only criteria for  personhood is life force flowing, chi, prana.  Let's cut the rhetorical crap of potential persons becoming a real person...who really fucking cares about definitions.  I am glad that my dad is free to swear on his blog and be totally impolite.  That's him and that's why I love him...his rage is about me...a real person, not an abstraction in some one's thesis or ethics committee.  I have a treasure in me if you take the time and effort to look and I work hard at life and you know something, young girl, I don't whine about hard things like housekeeping or getting a cold  on my blog.  Boohoo!

       These words are probably stinging, but I don't give a sweet fuck.  Again, Chris Hitchens, "I have a very thick skin and a very broad back, so I think I shall not complain of being called a redneck mutant, provincial philistine, backwoods dolt, or blood crazed religious maniac.  Insults come with the turf." (Not So Dumb Then?,  Hitchens, Mirror 2004)

       Also you screwed up by calling Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome a severe genetic disorder.  Check out www.blogaboutabloke.com written by a friend in Australia who has a young son with the syndrome and it will dispel your assumptions resulting from a lack of investigation.  You are a young girl and you need to apologize to the people who were wounded, devalued, dehumanized and offended by your ill-thought and archaic drivel.  Your view of personhood, my dear, is quite banal. Try writing about the treasure to be found in all life, not just life defined by your limited and narrow world view.

     I am a person! I am happy and fulfilled!  I would never trade places with you!


Phil Dzialo for Adam Dzialo
     
I am Adam...a person
I am Ollie...he's my friend, a dog...not a person
Got it!

This blog represents the opinions, only, of the author and his son...It has been well-researched,
and quotations are taken directly from the blog of the person whose ideas are being righteously challenged.
The post deals with the other's blogger's ideas and methods of presentation and is not intended to reflect on their 
character or reputation.

Friday, January 20, 2012

"Non-Person Humans"

Elie Wiesel



“We must not see any person as an abstraction. Instead, we must see in every person a universe with its own secrets, with its own treasures, with its own sources of anguish, and with some measure of triumph.”

― Elie Wiesel



       A message to those who stand with the Peter Singers and the Mary Anne Warrens of this world and consider the severely disabled as "non-person humans",  allowing different treatment for individuals of the same interest when diminishing marginal utility is a factor.  My son is NOT a "non-person human" with a diminishing marginal utility.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

My Nomination for Asshole of the Century...Del. Bob Marshall

The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children,” said Marshall, a Republican.
“In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There’s a special punishment Christians would suggest.”

Every century and every civilization has its idiot!  Here is a pseudo-human who has just announced that he is running for the Republican nomination for  U.S. Senate from Virginia.  It's bad enough that: he claims "homosexual behavior undermines the economy";  DADT (Don't Ask, Don't Tell) jeopardizes our relations with Muslims; introduced legislation to ban gays from the Virginia National Guard; called the "Affordable Care Act" criminal and an attempt to steal your "soul"; thinks that the best way to end school violence is to allow faculty to carry handguns on campus; advocated bills to allow Virginia to disregard laws passed by Congress; and is known for using the racial slur "macaca". Here's a list of other Marshallisms as a delegate.
       All of that is bad enough to banish the dude to an island with no people, nor food or water.   Several years ago, he claimed that abortions by parents correlated to the procreation of disabled children later on  because it was "nature's vengeance". He also babbled about some studies he read.  You know that the OT says the first born should be dedicated to the Lord, so if they are aborted there is an exacting punishment:  disabled children.  Actually, the OT has areas which suggest the first born as a sacrificial offering to the angry god...simply gut them on a stone altar. 
       In all due justice, he is now claiming his words were taken out of context and defending his statements as media manipulation on his facebook page   (suddenly the page with hundreds of comments disappeared and was replaced by a political ad where you can not post comments )when comments against him are running a zillion to one.  In the most hypocritical gesture he plastered his face with a cutesy CP kid :
      As of about 2:43 PM EST, about 23 hours after posting the pic to cover his Republican ass, he had 2 likes (probably his aides) and about 63 negative comments and growing.  Now I have a severely disabled kid and I have repeatedly requested an apology from him on his sites...no way.  He loves disabled kids and suddenly views them as a gift from god.  "It" (I was told by a dear friend that I have to refer to god as it) gives such nice gifts to all its friends.
        Well, if you buy the gospel according to the running candidate for Republican position of U.S. Senate from Virginia, we parents of disabled kids fucked up something so bad that nature is wreaking vengeance on us.  Also, all my son's gay therapists over the past 13 years, who have pure hearts of gold, are ruining the economy.
        I know that he issues repeated statements that his words were out of context, but here's the actual tape of his talk.  He mumbles so you need to turn your speakers up...


   I'm not misconstruing, are you?  My condolences to all my Virginia friends, but we need to beat this man down by bringing his words of hate to light.  Calling for his resignation is this facebook page.  Feel free to nail 'em.

      

Sunday, January 15, 2012

"Retardation" Make Girl Unworthy of Transplant...Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

UPDATE:  Given a huge outpouring of support by the disability community, CHOP is re-considering its decision and has met with parents to discuss future possibilities for the transplant.

       "Mental Retardation", a word despicable unto itself, is a criteria being used by the Children's Hospital of  Philadelphia to deny a young girl an organ transplant.  A complete and expanded story, commentary and action plan is written by Stephen Drake at the blog....Not Dead Yet.  It's a brilliant commentary on the disabled and organ donation.  Please read it HERE and take action. Please forward to friends!
         Simply, all life has value...the disabled have a right to life and no doctor, no committee, no hospital have the moral or ethical right to say that that a life is not worth living.....To assume that a life is not worth living places us in the same historical hell as Josef Mengele.

Hope lives here?  Unless you're disabled...
     The hospital facebook page where you can leave comments: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

     The mom's original blog about her experience: HERE

http://www.wolfhirschhorn.org/2012/01/amelia/brick-walls/
Amelia Rivera, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
No life saving kidney transplant because she is "retarded"!

GREAT ARTICLE about the above situation: CLICK HERE


For all disability activists:

Some media sources you can contact to get Amelia's story out
http://www.wolfhirschhorn.org/2012/01/amelia/brick-walls/
http://www.facebook.com/cnn
http://www.facebook.com/WBRETV?sk=wall
http://www.facebook.com/PhillyDailyNews
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Philadelphia-News/129580433764477
http://www.facebook.com/phillyinquirer
http://www.facebook.com/6abc.ActionNews
http://ireport.cnn.com/
http://www.facebook.com/cnn?sk=wall&filter=1
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41625923
http://ellen.warnerbros.com/show/respond/?PlugID=10
http://www.phillyautoshow.com/philadelphia-auto-show-black-tie-tailgate-announces-2012-event-beneficiary#comment-229
http://www.change.org/petitions/childrens-hospital-of-philadelphia-allow-the-kidney-transplant-amelia-needs-to-survive
http://www.caringforkids.com/Overview/Board-of-Trustees
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/contact-us/
http://www.courierpostonline.com/section/customerservice07
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Congressman-Robert-Brady/118845109487?sk=wall&filter=12

Friday, January 13, 2012

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ADAM.....January 14, 2012 (#26)

Adam Dzialo (age 26)
   

  When a father gives to his son, both laugh; when a son gives to his father, both cry.


William Shakespeare or a Jewish proverb (source is debatable)





My son, Adam, is my sun! The sun is an emblem of glory and brilliance. It is also a symbol of authority. It represents happiness, life and spirituality. The rising sun is a symbol of hope. The sun, when not rising, is always blazoned the “sun in splendour.” The rays are alternately straight and wavy, which symbolize the heat and light that we derive from them, and the heraldic sun usually has a human face though this is not strictly necessary. Rays of the sun, also called beams, are sometimes borne singly as in the ancient rolls, but more often they issue from other charges when described by one of the terms as radiant, rayonné or rayonnant. One ray of the sun signifies “by the light of heaven."  Swyrich Corporation, 2012




Long Life.......


       January 14, Adam will be 26 years old, having survived 13 and a half years post a 25 minute underwater near-drowning.  Adam is certainly severely disabled, non-ambulatory, non-verbal and needs 24 hour a day care.  He can do nothing for himself.  What he is, however,....is a TEACHER.  Teachers do not need words, they do not need written tomes filled with trivial drivel, they do not need a captive audience.  Teachers simply emanate life and its true value and purpose . . . pure, unadulterated being.

       Life pursues itself; life is its own mission; life does not need to be valued by others to be affirmed.  Life is ....  Adam has taught us that others can never learn unless a heart is fully open.  An open heart is a singular rarity in a world of narcissistic obsession.  Adam has taught us that what is valued is simple, is unadorned and often unappreciated.  It is life aware of itself and an awareness that there are  few significant others who unconditionally love and unconditionally care.  Unconditional love sustains life; it provides a cellular immunity against the forces of indifference which plague our society.

Adam...the only human who wakes every single morning
with a bright smile...there are no exceptions.   This
is a life lesson on how to greet life itself!
        Adam has taught us to allow into our lives only positive energy and to dismiss that which drains from us life force.  Stripped of its adornments and desires, its ambitions and pretensions, life simply is NOW....this moment and this moment is beautiful.  This moment has no past and it has no future....it is NOW.  We have learned easy and hard ways to let go of family and friends who embodied the energy which saps life from self.  We have learned to tell the truth, without regard to consequence.  We have learned that pure love is that love which neither expects nor requires anything in return.  We have learned that our soul group will be together in the energetic world forever.  Would any of this knowledge be available without Adam?  Not in one's wildest dreams.   We have learned, he has taught.

       Our only wish for Adam is a long life.  He has much more to teach and we have more to learn.  Others can learn also, but they need to be present and to have an open heart.  I would hope people stop running from learning because there will be a day when it will be too late.

        We journey together, a small unit.  The unit could not be more tight nor more secure.  There are no regrets; there is often a soul weariness and a soul enlightenment.  We have been together in past lives, in many differing roles, but this soul group endures.  That is all that counts!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ADAM!








Friday, January 6, 2012

A Day in the Life of an ABR Kid

       ABR (Advanced Biomechanical Rehabilitation)  is an intensively parent involved therapy that is guided by scientifically based biomechanical principles which attend to the structural collapse caused by brain injury (CP, stroke, near-drowning and many other brain assaults).  The techniques bring about predictable musculo-skeletal changes by strengthening the myofascia of the body.  Complex science is applied through simple principles and applications.  The theory is expounded upon by the developer Leonid Blyum on his blog. Research validation is underway.  The approach is very parent intensive and this post details the various hours of applications required to produce change.  Parent training and evaluations occur four times a year initially, then are reduced to twice a year.  Time and effort are crucial factors to reverse the myofascial collapse of a brain assault.  Here's Adam's typical ABR day:

6:00 AM to 7:00 AM (hopefully while he sleeps)

Soft egg rolling on foam along the lumbar vertebrae
Soft egg rolling along the sides of the upper sacrum with Adam on his side

9:00 AM TO 10:00 AM

Soft ball micro rolling on lateral neck up to but not over the SCM
Super soft mini ball rolling on cranial apex with foam platform
Soft egg rolling along clavicle
Soft egg rolling along the pectoral muscle


10:30AM TO 11:30 AM
Soft ball rolling along the upper vertebral column


Soft egg rolling along collapsed area on sides of  lumbar vertebral column
Soft egg rolling along fascial collapse on sides of lumbar spine areas
Soft ball rolling along lower lumbar and upper pelvic floor
3:00 PM TO 4:00 PM (While watching Dr. Phil)


Placement of soft egg on arms for short rolls to reduce spasticity and increase fascial strength
Rolling the soft egg on the arms...both arms per session


8:00 PM TO 5:00 AM
My invention:  three inch memory foam topper with cut-out for
pelvic and upper posterior thorax bladders
Adam strapped up for the night: bladders, platforms and foam on
posterior thorasic and pelvic areas on back and similar set ups on chest, stomach and hips
from the front.  Happy as can be...no?  But he sleeps well.
ABR Machines (we use two) which rhythmically inflate and deflate bladders to
strengthen certain myofascia areas where we place the air bladders.
Conclusion
Ollie, provides professional supervision.




In between ABR treatments, Adam also gets fed, watches tv, and does other stuff, every day.

CONCLUSION:  It works! No doubts on our part, none at all! No surgeries, no braces. no spinal fusions or rods,

no AFO's, no medicines of any kind, no baclofen pumps, no botox, just ABR. The best part, no

PT's or orthopedists. Just a kid who smiles every day!




Sunday, January 1, 2012

Chloe ... The Passing of a Friend

R.I.P. December 31, 2011

   



       Events happen suddenly, without warning....they say that death is part of the natural cycle of life; they say that death is a passing on to a better place; they say that upon arriving at the rainbow bridge there are friends, meadows, scampering friends; they say there is no suffering, no pain, just pure joy,  Many have written poems of consolation.
       Chloe came into our lives shortly after Adam's accident.  She never left our side, often sat in Adam's lap as we took them for walks along the ocean. Chloe was never the healthiest but always feisty.  She was loyal, an attribute that I could ascribe to only a few people.  She loved to explore outside, to wrestle with Ollie and staunchly protect her stash of food.  She loved to be with us and made the trip to Montreal for ABR training.  No one was ever more excited to see you than Chloe...enthusiasm always abounded even on the last morning.
       Chloe has a collapsed trachea, common to small breeds.  Every morning we woke to her "honking"; clearing the throat and lungs; every morning except this one...the first day of a new year.
        Chloe passed quickly, unable to breathe, unable to get comfortable last evening...suffering was not prolonged.  She knew, I knew.  She died snuggled in my arms, that is how she wanted it. It is how I wanted it to be.  I told her it was ok to leave, and to follow white and blue lights as these would lead her home. She knew it was ok to leave, that's the way it should be. She knew we would be together again. Death should be safe and secure.  It should be peaceful and chosen at the appropriate time...the time had come and it was peaceful.
        We did not lose a dog, we did not lose a pet....we lost a friend.  If there is a tragedy, it is that I could not feel the same level of anguish about most people I know because they know so little about unconditional love, about loyalty, and about "being there".  Yes, I lost my friend, plain and simple.


'Till we meet again, my friend

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