Michael’s mom is hopping mad…and who wouldn’t be? Yes, I’m talking about Michael J. Fox and the asinine things Rush Limbaugh had to say about a campaign ad Michael did recently. Before any of you get your political back up, let me inform you that I was born and raised in Missouri…by staunch Republicans. And much to the chagrin of more moderate or liberal friends…I often stick to my conservative roots.

But this isn’t about politics! As the mother of a child with a disability, I have to say that publicly ridiculing a disabled person for the manifestation of their disability is more than wrong! And if I were Michael’s mom, I’d be fuming too. Limbaugh had the audacity to say that Fox had either purposely stopped taking his medications to make his symptoms look worse or was “acting” during the taping of the ad. Fox reported in an ABC interview on Sunday that his mom was with him during the taping of the ad and was aware of how severely he was being impacted by dyskinesia that day, due to the medication.

I don’t think there are words in the English language to explain the pain felt by mothers of disabled people when others shun, ridicule or take potshots at their children. Michael says several times in the interview that he’s a “big boy” and expects the criticism. But I’m with Michael’s mom…it’s incomprehensible!

Fear. It’s all about fear. Michael nailed it in his ABC interview on Sunday:

But I know the community was really hurt by it. And it really brings up the specter of, "Go away. Shut the windows. Shut the doors. Close the curtains, and suffer, and don't let us know," because it's a fearful response.

He goes on to say:

And what the irony is, is that those people that are being pitied or being asked to suffer in silence don't want to suffer, don't see themselves as pitiable, don't see themselves as victims — see themselves as citizens, participants in the process, and people with aspirations and hopes and dreams for the future. They are way more positive as a whole than what I've seen from the community that opposes them.

Perhaps these types of things wound the moms more than the child -- this marginalizing of disabilities and of the people who suffer from them. I know I am instantly angered when someone openly shuns LuLu or refuses to even consider for a second that she is disabled and not just “behaving oddly”. It strikes deep into my soul.

I don’t have a strong position on stem cell research policies (perhaps I would if someone in my immediate family had Parkinsons, ALS or Alzheimers). But I do have a strong position on how much courage it takes to battle both your disability and society at the same time. Michael J. Fox is a hero in my book. He’s taking his affliction and turning it into a huge blessing for all the world by sharing his struggles so publicly. Rush Limbaugh…well that man will say anything for the publicity. God have mercy on his soul if he truly believes some of the hate that dribbles from his own mouth. Apparently Limbaugh went on to accuse Fox of giving others suffering from Parkinson’s “false hope” through his support of stem cell research.

In Michael’s words:

What is crueler, to not have hope or to have hope?... It's about hope. And so to characterize hope as some sort of malady or some kind of flaw of character or national weakness is, to me, really counter to what this country is about.