How People Become Co-opted

Sometimes it's fear. Sometimes it's promises. Sometimes it's a false sense of equality. Sometimes it's an actual transfer of goods, services or money. Sometimes it may be as simple as seeking friendship. I've been wondering recently why and how people become co-opted. I'd guess it's happened to all of us. I know it's happened to me and I also know I've never felt good about it when it has happened. But I'm certainly not sure about why it happens.

Here's a recent example that has been on my mind. Governor Andrew Cuomo recently developed, promoted and got passed legislation dealing with neglect and abuse of people with disabilities. He hammered the importance of this legislation home after a series of articles in the New York Times publicized what it saw as a failure of New York State's system of care for the developmentally disabled in particular. The Governor went to the press, to advocates, to parents, family members and whoever he could find to build support for his legislation. The Governor, within the first year of his administration,  had also appointed a new Commissioner to head the NYS Office for People with Developmental Disabilities. My point being, that both he and she, were pretty new to dealing with issues related to people with developmental disabilities.

So when the legislation was proposed, without much involvement of the field or advocates in general, its language referred to people with "special needs".  Now that may not seem like a really big deal and maybe its not - but this is. The field of people working with people with developmental disabilities, self advocates, individuals promoting change for many years, had just spent a decade or more trying to get government to recognize the importance of person first language and the dignity of how we talk about each other. Worse yet, some of the largest organizations who purport to be advocates fell silent. Instead, they praised the Governor for his leadership, etc. Why didn't they speak up about this use of language? Fear? Promises? What happened to advocacy? What happened to thoughtful education of elected officials? Perhaps the Governor would have appreciated someone pointing out that he was using old school language that could be insulting a large segment of the community.

So that's what's got me wondering about co-opting and how it happens. The Governor is I'm sure a good man, trying to do what's right. The Commissioner is a good woman, trying to change a system. The organizations and people who were co-opted are good, but they seem to have lost their way for some reason. I really hope they get back on the right track soon. They're needed. Their leadership is needed.