Don't dis my ability.

Disclaimer that I feel is necessary for the following blog:

I am fully aware of where my injury sits and readily acknowledge that my view is based solely upon my own experience and injury.

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Disabled.

Interesting word that one. It's one of those words that mean very different things to different people. It's full of associations, images, words, actions, and assumptions.

I think we should start with a look at the word. "Dis" a prefix that denotes the opposite of the suffix "abled".

So what we have here is a word that means not-abled. In the context of the word, its generally used to label someone who is disadvantaged in relation to the "normal" person. For example, someone who has one leg, or no arms, or senses that do not function "correctly". It also covers intellectual disabilities - not being able to think in the same way as "normal" people, not being able to fully integrate with society.

The term is based inherently in the idea that there is a way that we should be - dictated by a majority that appears to fit this mould of "normal".

I feel its a word born from ignorance, from people never labelled "disabled". The perception is one of misunderstanding, one that does not take into account what it is like to be "disabled". It appears to treat "disabilities" as something unfortunate, an illness, accompanied by the unfulfillable desire to be normal.

I think a little background is necessary here to understand the personal experience my opinion is based upon.

I was born under conditions that resulted in a moderate to severe injury to my brachial plexus. In layman's terms - a nerve damage to my right arm. It means that I have limited use of my right arm. It affected my hand and wrist the most resulting in fine motor skills at near zero accompanied by reduced sensation. This is not the worst injury one could harbour, and that's not the point I'm trying to make.

My point is that a disability is, in many ways, an ability.

Life with two functioning arms would fundamentally change who I am. My construction of self has its foundations in my inability to use my arms in the same way everyone else did. As a baby, I never crawled, but developed a kind of scoot, where I propelled myself along the ground on my bum with a combination of hand and leg movements. I developed ways to play just like everyone else - as far as I was concerned everything about me was perfectly normal. I've known no other life. Sure, I couldn't swing on the monkey bars, and took a little longer to climb, but I could swing, paint, and play with play-dough, and talk. As I grew older I found ways to express myself so that my arm did not limit me at all. I use a laptop, I play a euphonium instead of a flute, I have a knob on my steering wheel.

It never concerned me much that I was different. It defined me. I am proud - I like people asking about my arm and I enjoy talking about it, in the same way anyone would like to talk about their defining moments and features. It means that people acknowledge there is something different and unique about me.

I hate people being scared to ask. It implies that they feel I may be sensitive. Which to me, is highlighting that there is something different about me, and that they feel I should be concerned about that difference.

Which brings me back to one of my previous points. That the term "disability" is born from a lack of understanding. It implies that being disabled means that you have an unfulfillable desire to be normal.

Read that bold part closely. There are two distinct groups in that statement. The normal, and the "abnormal". It gives rise to sympathy and pity - disabled.

I do not need sympathy. I do not wish to be normal. What I need is for people to understand my injury, and the limitations that it posses to me, and then to help me modify so that I can accomplish tasks to the best of my physical ability. Curiosity is the first step to understanding what it means to be disabled.

I'm sick of the high and mighty "able-bodied" people thinking are the flag bearers in the noble quest to defend the disabled.

There was an article on the ABC news website today about a fundraiser that had been cancelled. A bunch of primary school students decided to have a "dress up as someone with a disability day". Now yes, there are something things wrong with that. But it had potential. I am all for kids having a "come to school with a pretend physical disability day" and seeing what its like being in a wheel chair, or wearing earmuffs to see what its like being deaf. It leads to greater understanding.

There were a series of comments the article, however, that really made me angry. The main one that nearly made my blood boil was from this lady, calling herself Karen:

I do not blame the children - they pick up on the perceived ideas and attitudes from the adults around them.
At the end of the day my son cannot take off his disability and slip into something a bit more comfortable. Awareness of those with disabilities is not about clothes or appearances. AND IT IS NOT ABOUT POLITICAL CORRECTNESS. It is about treating others with dignity and respect and acknowledging that despite appearances we are all the same.

She was referring to above comments that suggested what I was suggesting - that it would be a great idea for kids to understand disabilities by experiencing them.

It perfectly highlights exactly what I have been saying. She is defending the disabled, and trying to imply that they WANT to be able to "slip into something a little more comfortable". She is perpetuating the implications of a word that misrepresents that which it is trying to represent. Disabled people are NOT, as Karen would like to thing, the same as the "abled".

By trying to treat the disabled as the same you are restricting them in a way that they do not want to be restricted. Sure, they cannot do certain things - but they are able to do many other things - and that's what they want - to do what they can and bugger everyone else.

And that is what they want other people to understand.

All I want is to be able to participate to the best of my ability.











All I want is to be allowed to play on the swings, instead of longingly watching my peers swing on the monkey bars.