John Callahan (cartoonist) Quotes

9 Sourced Quotes

People always say, 'How can he make fun of the handicapped?'. And then an editor will usually write back and say that I'm in a wheelchair. Their attitude changes immediately.

John Callahan
There is humor in all parts of life, families suffering from Alzheimer's or cancer, who have their own private jokes as a way of coping with the pain. So why is it crime to share the joke in print?

John Callahan
I think it would be fun to hear the whir of little wheels around the house.

John Callahan
I spent almost my entire senior year in high school in the bag.

John Callahan
The idea promoted in rehab of the socially well-adjusted, happily married quad made me sick.

John Callahan
I knew with utter certainty that my problem was not quadriplegia, it was alcoholism.

John Callahan
My only compass for whether I've gone too far is the reaction I get from people in wheelchairs, or with hooks for hands. Like me, they are fed up with people who presume to speak for the disabled. All the pity and the patronizing. That's what is truly detestable.

John Callahan
I'm sick and tired of people who presume to speak for the disabled. The question of what is off-limits should not be defined by some special interest group. The audience, the readers, should decide.

John Callahan
Call me a gimp, call me a cripple, call me paralyzed for life, but just don't call me something that I'm not. I'm not differently abled. I can't walk. But I also hate it when people say 'wheelchair-bound.' People who can walk are not car-bound.

John Callahan