<em>&ldquo;My boy is going to have the same opportunities as everyone else.&rdquo;</em></p><p>Mama Gump, from &ldquo;Forrest Gump&rdquo;</p><p>When my Pierce was born six years ago, it took less than a half hour for his dad to look at me, fear in his eyes, and say those words: &ldquo;Something is wrong.&rdquo; Pierce looked dazed; he didn&rsquo;t want to nurse; he wasn&rsquo;t interested in us and, worst of all, he seemed to be in pain, a memory that haunts me even now.</p><p>We began an odyssey through the developmental disability and medical systems, and we&rsquo;re better for the experience. Our son, thanks to well-funded and progressive county and state programs, is thriving. Pierce&rsquo;s care will always be more complicated than that of his typical peers, and he will always be medically fragile and socially vulnerable. But he is lucky to have had the best-odds start.</p><p>As he ages, though, the system gets less responsive. We&rsquo;re applying for services through our Community Developmental Disabilities Organization. Once we have everything turned in, the wait for the services to which he is entitled will be years. </p><p>It doesn&rsquo;t matter that the law mandates services for children and adults with disabilities; the resources simply aren&rsquo;t there. </p><p>The good people who work in the system are not to blame. It isn&rsquo;t my place to assign blame to any one person or group of people.</p><p>We all bear the responsibility for this inequity. Pierce is everyone&rsquo;s baby. People like Pierce are all our children, all our aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, neighbors, friends, fellow human beings. </p><p>There is something, collectively, in us that has allowed us to ignore the most vulnerable among us. From the waiting list that thousands of Kansans with disabilities have to negotiate, to comments earlier this year by President Obama about the Special Olympics, it is clear that disabled people remained largely disenfranchised. This is the last taboo, the group that it is still acceptable to marginalize.</p><p>The ugly truth is that when the needs and rights of people with disabilities are not upheld, when indignities &mdash; the big ones and the little ones &mdash; are allowed to go unchecked, it tells this vulnerable population that they don&rsquo;t deserve better. It tells them substandard care and consideration are all that special needs people are worthy of.</p><p>As the mom of a special needs child, I am not prepared to accept that as my child&rsquo;s due. I am not raising my son to sit at the back of the bus. So, for now, we&rsquo;re gathering our documentation for Pierce. We will take our place in line behind other deserving Kansans and their families.</p><p>In the meantime, I will keep pushing, keep protecting, keep advocating. I hope that by the time Pierce is grown up, disability rights will have gotten a stronger foothold in our culture and that he, along with other special needs people, won&rsquo;t be so invisible anymore. </p><p>Everyone has the power to make this so &mdash; please, let legislators know that you support bills like the Invisible Kansans bill, which died in committee. Please open your mind and see the exquisite, unquantifiable beauty and enrichment children and adults like Pierce bring to their families and communities. We all have the enviable opportunity to be on the right side of history this time. Let it be.