Becca's Dream

At least one person has commented on not being able to understand the post on FTEA & New hairstyle equalling increased confidence.
If a person has never been exposed to the handicapped population and has no handicapped people among their friends and acquaintances I can imagine that they might be confused. It is difficult to understand any topic if you have not had the chance to learn the basic underlying facts. Frankly, life for handicapped people is different than what the rest of us experience and as uniquely different for each one of them as their handicaps vary from each other. Lately I have been trying to help people see, feel and understand what is it like to live life in my daughter’s shoes. I want you to understand. Forgive me if I have not expressed myself clearly enough. I will continue to try and increase my clarity.
Handicapped people are no longer hidden away in family homes or in institutions. They are out in public places. We see them in stores and restaurants on a regular basis. Let me tell you now they also see you in all your varieties. They and their families clearly see and feel the bad manners of many “normal people”.  They see the people whose bodies visibly recoil when they look at them. They see the noses wrinkle up in disdain showing  disapproval and a (false in my opinion) sense of superiority. Eyebrows that knit together and eyes that darken in disapproval at the voices that are perceived to be to loud, at inappropriate and untimely comments, at the disoriented behavior or weird clothing/color choices they happen to be wearing.  There are usually medical reasons for these “strange” behaviors. Things they have absolutely no control over. It is so sad that the above responses coming from “normal” people do not have equally valid reasons for being publicly displayed.

Fortuanately such ill mannered persons are increasingly in the minority.

Most people just go about their business paying as little attention to the handicapped as they do to anybody else moving about the mall or other public places. They do no harm and even allow handicapped and their families a sense of being no different than anyone else.

Then there are those of you who blessedly still practice good manners. You do simple things like smile and say hello. You hold doors open for us even though it means waiting for our loved ones to navigate steps or the door way. You nod and say things like “that’s nice” when you are enthusiastically given information that makes no sense. You may even take a few minutes to hold a conversation about an appropriate topic like; “what are you shopping for or what are you eating.” We are blessed by your kindness to us.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 9:53 pm and is filed under How do we interact?. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.