I was particularly taken by the "Permission to Fail" article. As a doctoral history student and a wheelchair user, my most annoying difficulty involves "experts" who have refused me funding on the grounds that if I failed, I would "totally collapse." What a patronizing and wasteful attitude!

I have spent eight years and $85,000 working toward my doctorate. Along the way, I've had many wonderful research trips, with many forks in the road. I've also had experiences of unmeasurable joy. I find it very distressful that many who would admire my journey also seek to spare me potential disappointment and keep me "safe" in the cocoon of a world without effort. This is destructive to me, and to the larger society, as it generates the separatism that Kathie Snow, Arthur Sills, and many others speak out against. The arcane "helpers" of Disability World don't realize how much talent is being left to rot in the name of "protection." In the words of the late Wendy Wasserstein, a great playwright, "Our task is to rise and continue."

Sean Dineen, Professor of History