You know today, I would like discuss some unconscious prejudices towards the
disabled. I don't mean the obnoxious overt ones either. Those are just
ignorant bullies who need to be smacked a time or three. I mean the quiet
insidious ones we aren't even aware of. We all have them. We just don't often
think about them. We see a disabled person and immediately think, "poor
thing." Why? Maybe their life is awesome. They could've just won a medal or
the lottery or just fell in love. We don't know. We just assume that their life
is somehow small and limited. We automatically think of the disabled as victims
or innocents- they could be cunning bank robbers or the most vile small minded
haters who ever graced this planet. We are just assuming they're powerless or
timid. Oh, and here's my favorite pet peeve today we assume if someone does not
speak quickly or clearly that they are not intelligent. And yet one of our most
brilliant minds of science uses an augmentative communications device.
I get why we do this. Two hundred million or so years of
evolution states that getting information quickly about our surroundings is
better for our survival. That's why we like to label people. That's why we
don't trust people who don't look or sound like us. That's why we love gossip. We like to think of ourselves as quick-witted not prejudicial, as if that quick dismissal of others was somehow a smart or sacred thing. But if we do not acknowledge these unthinking reactions, we cannot move beyond
them and become complete, whole, decent people. We spend our lives being jerkwads who
limit others instead who and what we are really capable of being. By limiting
others, we limit ourselves.
And, so to that end dear human race. Do me a favor? For the love
of all that is good and your own human experience, please stop assuming that
disabled are not intelligent. Normally,with Feisty Pants we don't care. It's
almost fun to completely blow your mind when you find out she's clever and
mischievous. But right now, it's a pain my ass. Why do the services for the
disabled get cut first when schools and states need to cut spending? It's
because they believe it's ONLY an expense not an investment as if the disabled
offer nothing to society. Forget that is clearly not true in a thousand
different ways it's also more expensive in the long run. Why oh why does her
bus keep picking her up BEFORE her school day is over?!? It's her education NOT
daycare. And frankly, a violation of her civil rights. No one is doing that to
be awful. They just want to be efficient and get their work done. This is a
problem with any institution, eventually it becomes run for the convenience of
the management not the clients. So how about we make a deal? You all stop acting like Feisty Pants is just a "poor thing" who will not be able to go out and
conquer the whole world. And I will stop screaming the "L" word (lawyer) every
time you treat her education as something less than sacred. And believe me, to
me and Feisty Pants, it is a sacred matter.
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