Smart Ass Cripple: Tim Tebow Promises Proms, but People with Disabilities Need Actual Help

Every year, the Tim Tebow Foundation sponsors a big event called A Night to Shine. The mission of the foundation of the former NFL quarterback and devout Christian is to “bring faith, hope, and love to those needing a brighter day in their darkest hour of need.”

A Night to Shine is supposed to “celebrate people with special needs” by bringing together people all over the world to organize proms for disabled people, many of whom are beyond high school age. Every disabled person attending one of these proms is crowned king or queen.

The sixth annual Night to Shine was on February 7. According to the foundation’s website, 721 churches hosted proms.

I’m not sure where Tebow got the idea that the best way to brighten the days of disabled folks is to throw us proms, but OK. At least he’s putting out a call to act and people are responding. But I sure wish he recognized how tragically neglected disabled folks are politically and endeavored to inspire people to serve our needs on that level.

For instance, an updated version of the report “The Case for Inclusion” just came out. The report is issued periodically by United Cerebral Palsy and the ANCOR Foundation to assess how well state governments are supporting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

One of the most stark and dismal findings in this report is that the number of people with these disabilities on waiting lists for Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) has more than tripled since 2005, growing from 138,000 to 473,000 nationally. 

That means that all those people want access to various public programs to help them live on their own in communities, rather than in institutions or with their aging families. But because these programs aren’t funded enough to even come close to serving all who need them, all these folks will just have to wait, maybe for years, to get the support they deserve.

I’m not sure where Tebow got the idea that the best way to brighten the days of disabled folks is to throw us proms, but OK.

The Tebow Foundation’s website says 215,000 people came together to organize proms this year for 115,000 disabled guests. No doubt a lot of those guests are stuck on HCBS waiting lists. 

Imagine if, instead of focusing on proms, Tebow inspired all these humans to march down to their state capitals and demand that HCBS programs be funded to the point where all these cruel waiting lists disappear forever. Getting all those people off waiting lists sure would brighten their days.

What a wonderfully intimidating political force Tebow’s army would be! Governors and legislators would live in abject fear of A Night to Shine!

But even if Tebow did issue such a political call to action, I doubt the response would be nearly as robust. When serving the needs of disabled means fighting prolonged, bare-knuckles political battles, that’s a much harder sell.

It’s easier to throw us an annual party and make us king or queen for a day.