So last night I saw a story about this woman, Rose, who had no legs. I liked it, but it wasn’t so much her in particular, but a few of the things she said. Like she said when people ask her if she ever wants to be normal, her response to that is that she is normal. This is normal. It’s all she’s ever known.
The best thing she said though was about being handicapped. She explained that her parents never used words like handicapped, disabled or different, and she didn’t associate herself with those terms. To her, “a handicapped person is someone who can’t. I can.” I absolutely love that. She figured out how to articulate what I feel. I remember asking once if having one hand made me handicapped (I was trying to get a handicapped sticker so I could be lazy and park close to stores though). The point is I had to ask.
I have never felt different or disabled. I think a lot of that has to do with how you are raised. My parents are wonderful. They did great. They never made me feel like I couldn’t do something. Neither did any of my friends. Sometimes my teachers would make me a bit uncomfortable, but usually not because they were babying me.
Once, I remember a teacher telling me (or writing in a letter) that I was their hero for all the things I could do. I still don’t understand why I am that special. I really don’t. That makes me uneasy. I remember another time in high school that I finally decided that I didn’t need a left hand and really never wanted one anyways. I had a teacher that would bug me to pray with him to grow an arm or something. I don’t even know. I just avoided him after that. I think that that was really arrogant to assume that I wanted to be his definition of “normal”. I’m happy with who I am.
Besides, if I suddenly had a left arm, I’d be retarded with it. That’s why you learn things as babies. If you fwing around and slam your new arm into a wall, you cry, your parents pick you up and kiss it to make it better, you calm down, and go on your merry way. If you slam your arm as an adult, you might break the new arm, have to go put it in a cast, scratch it until it’s an open wound so that it gets infected and they have to take it back. So you’re no better off than when you started, and why put yourself through that?
Links - not so many today:
- This is just so stupid. Andrew, you must read this.
- Beer cat
- Fascinating
- Yoda
- Community Organizer
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