Selections From an Email to a Couple of my Relatives

 Selections from an email to a couple of my relatives:

I’ve been writing a pioneering blog about cleft for almost a decade. Some things that have come up:

If not for private charity, we’d be almost completely neglected.

Society gets us sown up, so we won’t be so scary. For the adult clefted, there’s nothing.

Other minorities have a discourse: Racism. Sexism.

I use the non-existent terms Cleft Phobia. Cleft phobic. So sue me.

Leftism, Socialism, is for those who are “in a state of society.” We the clefted are not, and the left are dangerous to us. Our best chances are with middle class people, who are fewer than before.

Please tell me if there is anything about clefted people, or by clefted people, in the media or the institutions, instead of the charities that “help” us.

One of the things that drew my attention to the prevalent Original Sin assumption of, for example, Saint Augustine, was that Original Sin (which violates Due Process’ “presumption of innocence”), “we are all sinners,” makes it easier to debase, degrade, and humiliate the clefted. It’s ok to target us; after all, we offend people.

/******/

I would like to have a part in initiating a pioneering program for the clefted, although organizing or leading such a public program is not in my skill set.

I’m guessing it would include the following steps:

1. Sociological data such as How many have visible cleft, and are the most stigmatized; and how many simply have speech and eating difficulties. (What percent of the populace are we?)

2. Civil rights cases at law, if any, concerning commenting, gesturing, verbal abuse, rejection by the workplace or higher education (I’ve experienced both - that’s why I’m a (national scholarship) Fellow who was never a professor).

3. Program to provide a clearinghouse, where we can meet and cooperate against the pervasive public discrimination.

3. A number we can call when we feel we’re being targeted.

4. A pro bono attorney cadre.

5. Surveys of our representation or underrepresentation in government agencies, state universities, managerial positions, professional positions, and technical positions.

6. A statement by the opinion makers of our society of the reciprocity principle: If an opinion, attitude, or practice would be wrong in the case of the protected classes, it is wrong for the clefted. We have exactly the same civil rights as everyone else, although the justice system does not act as if we do.

End of selection.