Our college has a textbook lending library for non-white and/or economically disadvantaged students, of which I am a member. Basically, I get to check out textbooks for my classes instead of buying them and reselling them; it's great. Problem is, I have to attend on event per term at the Office of Intercultural and International Life to stay in the library. This term, I decided to attend the discussion on 'ableism' (discrimination against the mentally and physically handicapped).
This being a liberal arts college in a left-leaning state, everybody's pretty damn social liberal, which means I have to watch my mouth sometimes, or I'll get into trouble making jokes that nobody outside the college (or Charlie Don't Surf) would get upset about. So, I go to this discussion. A few minutes in, I panic. What am I doing here? If I open my mouth, they'll tear me apart. But I decide to stick to saying things that, while they'll provoke interesting conversation, won't get anybody upset. This works well until folks start preaching about how the society needs to change its habits instead of the disabled changing theirs. I open my mouth to offer a position which I feel is, again, thought-provoking, yet not controversial. I'll do my best attempt to paraphrase.
"Still, though, I think we can all agree that there is a line beyond which we should not try to stamp out ableism. Would anyone here want to take a genetics class with someone who's schizophrenic? I mean, full-on, the-walls-are-melting, voices-telling-me-to-kill-people, everyone-in-the-room-is-a-CIA-agent schizophrenic? For one thing, if the professor decides to adopt the anti-ableist idea that there is no right way to learn, and so teaches in a way the schizophrenic person can understand, then we all lose out, because we're not going to learn as much. And if the professor doesn't do that, then we still lose out, because their presence is going to be disruptive. So we can all agree that there is a line that needs to be drawn. The real problem is where."
Apparently, we cannot all agree on this. Folks found this insulting and outrageous, and if it weren't for the moderator, I'd have been essentially screamed out of the room. Fuckin' hippies.