Imagine a boy
struggling to walk across the streets of a busy town, taking awkward, stiff
steps. He longs to join other boys in soccer games and wishes they would not
mock him because of his disabilities. He longs to be a great musician, but no
one would let him be near a musical instrument, concerned that he would damage
it. People think he is a disgrace to his family, one who cannot bring any kind
of pride or honor to his parents. No one encourages, defends, or believes in
him. No, it's not a hypothetical situation. This boy is experiencing what
is constantly remaining a serious issue—discrimination against the disabled.
How many
actions do we perform in a single day? We sit, stand, walk downstairs, pour
ourselves a cup of coffee, write, read, play instruments, have stimulating
discussions with others, and think for ourselves without realizing what we are
doing, what each of our body parts is required to do to perform each simple
task. At the end of the day, we don't close our eyes and thank the heavens for
arms or legs or a mind.
So when
someone comes along who doesn't have one or many of these basic things we take
for granted, we can't help staring just a second longer, wondering why that
person isn't, well, "normal." We automatically and subconsciously
label him or her as "abnormal" or "strange." What they do
not have is suddenly magnified and that's all we see when we look at them.
Their limitations, their inabilities.
Having
disabilities is not something we, as humans, have control over. According
to Disease Control and Priorities Project, about nine million infants are
afflicted with congenital disabilities—disabilities that one is born with.
There are so many pregnant women who get their fetus checked for how their baby
is going to turn out, and as soon as they figure out that something about their
child will not be normal, they begin to worry about how their family will cope
with this unusual situation, and some mothers are even driven to abort their
baby because of his or her predicted disabilities. It's because disabled people
are not treated the same way people without disabilities are.
This is an issue that ties in
personally to me, because I have an adopted brother who was born with a complex
mix of many different disabilities, including cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and
intellectual disabilities. Growing up as his sister, I have seen so much that
has made me question the fairness of how disabled people are treated. When I
was younger, my brother's disabilities would frighten, embarrass, and frustrate
me. I would be forced to stay by his side always, because we wouldn't know when
he'd have a seizure. I watched him take 14 pills a day and still collapse on
the ground 3 to 4 times every day, eyes rolled back, body rigid, and foaming at
the mouth. I was there when a group of kids would always come up to him and
mimic his awkward gait and mock him for his disabilities. Seeing the way others
treated him and viewed him as an outcast, I began to think that my brother was
really not made to fit in with the rest of society. I was embarrassed that he
was my brother, and I used to wonder why I couldn't have a normal brother who would
play with me, talk with me, tease me a little, and protect me like my friends'
brothers did for them.
As I got older, I began to see
that my brother was just a normal person on the inside. He loves sports and
music, he loves going to school, and he's always willing to help people.
Wherever he goes, if people give him the chance, if they reach out to him, he's
guaranteed to make them laugh. Even though he is limited by his disabilities,
he does everything he can to make himself and others around him happy. The
saddest thing for me is imagining where he will be for the rest of his life,
after he graduates his school. Will he be stuck at home all day with nothing to
do? I'm really hoping he'll be able to find a job, finding what he loves to do
and being given the opportunity to do it for the rest of his life. It's always
painful to tell him that he can't do something he really wants to because of
his disabilities. He doesn't know he is disabled, and even though he wants to
go out and run around with the other kids in the neighborhood, he can't because
he has to be supervised at all times.
I know there are many people in
the world who are going through or have been through something similar. It's
true that disabled people aren't receiving the same opportunities or being
treated the same way the rest of society is. There are amazing stories of
people who have turned their disabilities into blessings rather than curses,
surpassing the skills of people without disabilities in whatever they are
passionate about. This is because they have chosen to embrace the way they are
and ignore the mocking voices that tell them they are not good enough for
society. In the face of adversity and tribulation, they have emerged victorious
in their understanding of who they are. I think that's more admirable than
anything a person born into the most ideal circumstances can do.
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