Prejudice in the Heart of Florida

See this op-ed by that title in the Miami Herald.  It begins:

The mistreatment inflicted on children with disabilities is an unresolved issue in our society. From ancient times to the present, a heavy burden of discrimination, marginalization and exclusion has fallen, in most cultures, on those least able to bear it. 

Frequently, these minors are undervalued because of the physical, psychological and sensorial nature of their development. They are forever trapped under the label of “disabled” and therefore arouse pity, commiseration and mercy. In the worst cases, they end up abandoned and isolated in institutions. In some cultures, the bloody practice of infanticide remains. 

In Florida, hundreds of parents willing to offer all possible love to their children with disabilities are forced by the state to look after them without sufficient home nursing care. Otherwise, they have no other option but to separate themselves from their children and send them to nursing homes designed to care for frail elders.