Notes, Notings, and Common Refrains

So, last night, I was tootling 'round Zazzle.com, looking at customized tee-shirt designs, for Disability Culture ideas, And I see that one store has a bunch of "Cerebral Palsy Dragon" products.

Well, I like dragons, and I have CP. So I clicked.
... Cue the gnashing of teeth and the tearing of hair.

What I learned was that there's a "Green Ribbon Awareness Campaign" ... Thing. And nearly every design is about how Cerebral Palsy is a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad thing that must be Stamped Out. Really -- there's one set of products with a rage-filled cartoon elephant squishing a black furry monster to death. The black furry monster, of course, represents the horribleness that is the scourge of C.P.

... Never mind that C.P. is a condition with a wide variety of causes and a nearly as wide a range of symptoms. ...We don't want to actually raise that much awareness. That would just confuse the nice able-bodied people. And of course the "awareness campaign" is all about how to get rid of condition, instead of, oh, say, maybe raising awareness of all the things people with C.P. are capable of, and getting them access to education and employment (outside the sheltered workshop model, mind you).

Meanwhile, up until last night, I didn't even know there was this Green Ribbon thing, so this morning, I looked it up on Google. And while I haven't (yet) found out who dreamt up this "heart-warming" campaign. I did find a Medical Support group site that hasa page with a summary of all the currently- running "awareness ribbons" and what each color symbolizes, here: http://www.mdjunction.com/awareness-ribbons.

...I don't know whether to laugh, cry, or throw something. Here are just a few highlights:

(dark) Green: Organ & Tissue Donors, Mental Health, Neurofibromatosis, Kidney Cancer, Cerebral Palsy, Bipolar and Tourette syndrome. (Not to be confused with Lime Green ribbons, which stand for ... wait for it ... Lyme Disease)

Of course, if I'm not in the mood to wear green, I could also wear burgandy, for what's at the end that color's list: myeloma, hospice care, Sepsis, APS (Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome), FVL, Thrombophilia, headaches and to support the Permanently Disabled (though I'm not sure whether I wear it for general disability or headaches... all this pity is definitely headache-inducing).

Oh, and there's also a "ribbon" printed especially for Autism Speaks, with their multi-colored puzzle piece design (copy-and-pasted directly from the site): Wear the Puzzle Ribbon to support those 'living with' autism.

...Of course they'd put ironic air quotes around "living with." No one who has autism actually has a life.

I think there's an epidemic of ribbon-wearing going on in this country. What color ribbon should we use to raise awareness of the problem?

(cross-posted from dot_gimp_snark)