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I understand that concept better now than I ever have before. I understand because of the changing public perception of what Terri Schiavo and other people with disabilities like her can do.

And it is because of the wide distribution of videotape showing Terri herself.

Sometimes she is responding to doctors and family. Sometimes she is responding to music. Frequently she is clearly responding to spoken requests to move parts of her body. But she is responding and responding and responding.

A lot of people who didn't "get" that before are doing so now in new ways.

There is this is from today's video clip on the Tampa ABC-TV affiliate: It included some of the video of Terri interacting with her mother. At the end of the news segment, the news anchor said, "I guess it seems a matter of semantics, but it doesn't look like a coma."

Also this afternoon, a five year old boy named Jacob Shifflett was part of a group of protesters outside the courthouse in support of Terri's right to live. His simple sign read, "Don't Let The Court Starve People!" Many, many motorists were honking in support of that heartfelt plea.

The tide is turning...

When Dr. Hammesfahr (neurologist who practices in Clearwater) asserted that Terri is aware and could communicate, it was to a courtroom with twice as many people in it than there were last Friday. The number of visibly disabled people in attendance was at at least 200 times more than last time.

The whole range of disability was represented -- as were all ages. The wheelchair user in front of me and I were separated by two feet and forty years. When I asked why the boy was there, he looked at me as if I had just asked the dumbest question in the world and answered, "Where else would I be today?"

Last Friday the few people supporting the husband sat on one side of the court. The larger number supporting Terri and her parents shared the other side. Today Terri's supporters were seating in almost every available space.

In those spaces were many disability groups, brain injury survivors, local politicians, people about to argue another case like Terri's, family members and friends. At every break they surged around Terri's parents in support. The parents returned that affection in full measure and then some.

The husband wanting to discontinue Terri's feedings was strangely alone in contrast. Not even he and his lawyer did much communcating. They were an island unto themselves.

The tide is turning...

The other sides's isolation expressed itself legally during the proceedings, too.

George Felos, Michael Schiavo's attorney, seemed to be searching for the smallest points for objection:
From whether evidence needed to establish standard practice could actually be admitted as evidence -- to whether Dr. Hammesfahr could decribe his own five year experience with applying for a patent -- to whether the time on a video tape had to be on it if (to compensate for court technology problems) the pa rents' attornies could vocally indicate the starting and starting place.

After the "we need the little numbers in the corner of the tape" objection, " the judge was irritated enough to ask Felos whether his watch had a second hand so he could track time for himself. This caused many in the courtroom to laugh out loud. The judge did not seem to mind.

The tide is turning...

Judge Greer has ruled in favor of Felos and the husband more than once. Now he is openly showing increasing irritation at their tactics. I think this also has to do with the video tape.

On that tape, we saw today that Dr. Hammesfahr was able to help Terri extend her severely contractured arm to an amazing degree after only about five minutes of amateur physical therapy. Her face bloomed in happiness, peace and relief as her arm also opened up.

The tide is turning....
Rus Cooper-Dowda

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