Here's a classic case of disability being defined by medical professionals...and that's exactly what's wrong with the VA today. The Iraq War is having such huge impact on our veterans that one in five is coming home with PTSD, and now we have medical professionals stating that the VA should not be diagnosing it because it's too costly to diagnose and cover the benefits of a veteran with PTSD? Seems like this would be a good time to reevaluate our priorities. If we can no longer afford to give adequate support to our returning veterans, then it seems like the logical choice should be to get out of Iraq. It's the same logic that the state and federal government uses to shut down puppy mills and other threats to the humane treatment of animals...if the population exceeds your ability to support it then you are guilty of inhumane treatment and are shut down immediately. So, let's shut down the war...how about it? Enough is enough.
On a disability related note...since field medicine was improved during the Civil War in the U.S. we've seen every war create a new population of individuals with disabilities in this country and each time the veterans return home to realize that the world of the "norms" is not as friendly to them anymore. It seems like we would learn from the past. For example, we had veterans protesting in New York after WWI for their right to employment and we had the same issues after WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War, and now the Iraq War and we still haven't made substantive strides towards adequate support for disabled veterans. The biggest source of interest in disability studies here at UI has recently come from ROTC students and students with family in the military, because disability is now a real part of their lives and something they "have" to pay attention to. It's sad that it requires a personal connection to disability, until people start to pay attention.
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