There are no disabled humans. Just humans enabled differently.
Juan Diego Guzman
Multicultural Executive Creative Director I New Business/ RFP Winner I Miami Ad School Professor | Idea-people | Storyteller-Story-doer | Copywriter | Brand Strategist | humans2humans founder #juanguzman78
Per the dictionary, a disability is any condition of the body or mind (impairment) that makes it more difficult for the person with the condition to do certain activities and thus interact with the world around them.
OK. Noted. But does someone under said conditions deserve to be permanently labeled as disabled? When, in reality, there is ability in the word disability.
Recently, the one-and-only Richard Branson publicly confessed that being dyslexic was rather his superpower. Interesting self-diagnosis. This leads me to say that there are many people with so-called disabilities who are very able not only to deal with such configurations but actually end up getting the most out of them as well. That different condition of the body (hardware) or mind (software) propels them to think, move, behave, smell, hear, taste, savor, or touch in ways our 5 limited senses have a hard time following and understanding.?
What is seen as a disability is simply a different way a human being faces their given reality. In other words, a so-called disability turns out to be an unsolicited and ongoing test that demands a self-made ability to solve and cope with particularly challenging situations, different from what is considered the standard.?
As humans, once we can’t do certain things for X or Y reason, or in the way that society expects us to do them, we are then forced, compelled, and challenged to deal with the said situation, and thus figure out another way to keep on living, thriving, and succeeding.
i.e. A blind person finds new ways to “see”. So much so, that people who can see can’t see those new ways.?
It's then fair to say that a disability only exists in the minds who see it that way. A disability is voided when said configuration prompts and sets the person to successfully find alternative ways to face things moving forward. Ultimately, an alleged disability enables them to overcome said conditions in a way that people without said conditions can’t. So… who is the "disabled" now?…?
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You?… Me?… Him/Her?… Them?… Nobody.
We all are the same, yet wired to do things in different ways. (Same DNA yet not the same characteristics) i.e. A person with sclerosis may not be able to play football as we know it, yet she/he surely can play football in a different way… in their imagination, as a coach, in video games?… Who knows! There is always a way. Therefore, there is no one with disabilities. There are simply people who are prompted to deal with certain tasks and things in distinct manners. Pretty much like any of us. We are all born and raised in different places and under different circumstances, right?... That alone makes us adapt and function under some cultural beliefs and social laws, and thus behave somewhat accordingly. Distinctively when compared to people from other parts of the world. The same happens with those that society keeps labeling as disabled people. They are compared to the regular norm, which is anything but normal to start with.?
Hans Asperger: “Not everything that steps out of the line, and thus “abnormal”, must necessarily be ‘inferior’”?
There you have it… said the guy who studied one of the many expressions of autism in humans, which is defined as a developmental disorder and disability. People with Asperger’s Syndrome have a difficult time relating to others socially and their behavior and thinking patterns can be rigid and repetitive. Says the society whose kinds of behavior and patterns are also quite rigid and routinary as well. And that also has a questionable track and record when it comes to relating to others socially, ethnically, linguistically, and so forth.?So go figure!
In the end… it is all a matter of perspective… And being open enough to actually see the big picture. Again... For blind people, those who are not blind as they are, are "blind" to them. As simple as that.
We are all equal, yes... just wired differently. That's all.
Written by Juan Diego Guzman