Living in the host city of the Republican National Convention has been an interesting experience. I could go into detail about walking down the street and seeing snipers stationed across the skyline or hearing rallies and protesters chant, but I think I'd like to focus on something a little less directly related to this event. Sarah Palin made a statement that I found interesting during her acceptance speech (she made a lot of statements, but that is not going to be my point. I'd actually rather keep this blog out of politics as much as I can). She offered assurance to the caregivers of special needs children, saying that they always have a friend in Washington. This was of special meaning to me, for several reasons, and came up in a conversation I had over dinner a few nights ago. I tend to think about things long after the conversation has ended and in this case my thought process reached a place that I wasn't necessarily expecting. I realized that when you look at discrimination in general the tone of counteracting it is focused on equality. Rightly so. However, I think the challenge with ending discrimination as it relates to people who are differently-abled is that things must be different in order for them to be equal. I wonder if this makes it much more difficult to realize because it is natural to think that things must be the same to be equal. Handicapped parking is a pretty simple example of this idea. Parking that is closer, with wider stalls, gives someone who is less able (or totally unable) to get themselves to the front door of a public place the same opportunity to shop at the grocery store, or wherever. I think that there are some people realize equality for special needs individuals is an obvious thing, and I would certainly agree with that. But, I wonder if these rights need to be acknowledged in a slightly more intentional way, as they require accommodations on the part of everyone involved. Our culture is not disability-friendly - I saw that every time one of my kids would refuse to wear shorts because he was afraid people would see his leg braces. I don't think that it was ignorant for Sarah Palin to realize it is still an issue. I appreciated her committment to this because I think establishing true equality - in practice, not just in theory - for this group is going to take much longer, and look much differently, than other equality efforts have in the past.