Make Them Go Away: Clint Eastwood, Christopher Reeve and the Case Against Disability Rights [Paperback]

Mary Johnson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 097211890X | ISBN-13: 978-0972118903 | Publication Date: January 1, 2003 | Edition: 1

Cultural Writing. "Our wrists hurt from typing on our too flat keyboards.We put the TV on 'mute' when it gets to noisy in the bar, and follow the action with the captions. We duck into the `handicap stall' at the airport because it's big enough to accommodate us--and our rollbag and our computer bag. Still, we say, the disabled are ruining things for society. They want special keyboards at work to help them type. They want accessible restrooms everywhere. They want more captioning on television. They're always wanting special accommodations"--from MAKE THEM GO AWAY. "This book from long-time disability social issues reporter Mary Johnson is indispensable. It's the genuine article--Johnson was there"--Marta Russell.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Imagine an African American's voting rights withheld until he or she proved 100 percent African American descent, or a woman having to sue her employer to get a women's restroom in the workplace. Outrageous as those scenarios seem, their like is commonplace in the lives of the disabled, Johnson says, because of widespread misinterpretation and misapplication of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). She points out numerous flaws in the law, beginning with its title (she prefers that of the British analog, the Disability Discrimination Act) and including the fact that it is enforceable only via lawsuit, putting rights seekers in an adversarial position, and that it contains an escape clause permitting noncompliance if accessibility causes a business "undue hardship." The disabled person's difficulties aren't, however, confined to the law, and the roots of conflict over disability rights reach deep into personal prejudices and national values. Bit-by-bit Johnson deconstructs arguments against disability rights from the likes of Clint Eastwood as well as more ordinary folk, and she constructs powerful reasons why we all benefit from inclusion. Donna Chavez
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"By exposing the case against disability rights . . . Johnson has improved the odds that we may take disability rights seriously." -- Mainstream magazine online

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Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: The Advocado Press, Inc.; 1 edition (January 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 097211890X
• ISBN-13: 978-0972118903
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #201,573 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > Law > Specialties > Disability

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read, January 21, 2003

By A Customer

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This review is from: Make Them Go Away: Clint Eastwood, Christopher Reeve and the Case Against Disability Rights (Paperback)

Mary Johnson, long time editor and co-founder of the Ragged Edge, has been on the forefront of the struggle for disability rights in the United States for over 20 years. Highly respeced and a gifted editor and writer, Johnson has used her considerable skills to hone a book that is sure to be widely read and discussed. Her book will appeal to a wide cross section of people including disabled people seeking to understand their place in society, academics, lawyers, government officials, and health care professionals to mention but a few groups that could benefit greatly from reading Make Them Go Away.

In my estimation, Johnson's book is the most important contribution that has been made in the burgeoning field of disability studies in the last decade. In part this is because she provides not only a history of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) but explains in detail exactly how the court has eviserated the law. Broken into two parts, the first half the case against disabilty rights and the second the case for disability rights, Johnson uses popular and controversial figures such as Clint Eastwood and Christopher Reeve to make her point that there is a long standing bias against the disabled in American society. In fact, she ably demonstrates the legal bias against the disabled begins before they even enter the courthouse. Sadly, Johnson also demonstrates the ADA is widely misunderstood by the general public and more often than not simply not considered to be a part of the civil rights movement. This is sad because many thought the law would lead to the end of the most base forms of discrimation disabled people face on a daily basis. Alienation and the lack of access and the concommitant isolation and disenfranchisement that comes with it has not been eliminated by the ADA. While the social reality is not positive, Johnson's book is one of the opening salvos in what looks to be a very long battle for disabled people's civil rights. As such, Make Them Go Away should be considered must reading for disability rights activists, lobbyists, lawyers and all those on the front lines of the battle for disability rights. Johnson's book should also be required reading in classes in disabiltity along with other classic works by Erving Goffman and Robert Murphy. In short, buy the book, read it carefully, and share it with all those who not only have an interest in disabilty rights but the rights that all Americans are supposed to share.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good book with some serious questions, September 29, 2005

By 

Robin Orlowski "political activist" (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Make Them Go Away: Clint Eastwood, Christopher Reeve and the Case Against Disability Rights (Paperback)

I too personally have experienced what Mary Johnson documents in her well-researched work.

Social antipathy against people with disabilities is so mainstreamed in America that progressive activists who rush to condemn other forms of bigotry, engage in bigotry against people with disabilities. We are time and/or money consuming entities that are still honestly not perceived as contributing anything to society let alone being recognized as social equals.

This inequality then leads people to interpret the ADA as a burden on them as opposed to considering the greater burdens which unjust discrimination places on both the recipient and the nation.

However, I have one minor suggestion to ensure that this book gets to those most needing to read it.

Change the title to more accurately reflect that this book is a critique of how society handles disability instead of something itself which opposes the disability rights movement. Because the disability rights movement is acknowledged as seeking liberation of stereotypical attitudes and laws, it aids Mary Johnson's case.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Read (and Mustn't Divorce Reading from Action), February 13, 2003

By 

Art Blaser (Orange, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Make Them Go Away: Clint Eastwood, Christopher Reeve and the Case Against Disability Rights (Paperback)

Mary Johnson's book fills an important gap. We haven't understood the case against disability rights and we need to if we're going to refute it. As Johnson explains, we ignore it (with the claims of Reeve and Eastwood and of the right-wing law and economics approach) at our peril. Johnson's book is a call to take disability rights seriously, full of comment on court cases like Sutton, Williams and Garrett, and a plethora of disability issues including "special" education, accessible transit, employment and adaptive technology.

I've already had the pleasure of using this book in the undergraduate university classroom (at Chapman University) and I'm eager to use it again.