We are all normal, we are all disabled

Look at the first individual in the image below. He is a normal man, isn't he? So what does make him ?normal?? Well, he has two legs, two arms, one head, and he can see, speak, ear, think. Just an ordinary man. Now, look on the second individual. She is a normal woman, isn't she? So what does make her ?normal?? Well, she has two legs, two arms, one head, and she can see, speak, ear, think. Just an ordinary woman.

So they are both ?normal?. But they are different too! The woman is brown-haired while the man has lighter, almost blond hair. They have different colors of eyes too, and the woman is thinner than the man. Furthermore the woman has a degree whereas the man is a bricklayer. So they have different education, abilities, capabilities, interests, habits too. But they are both normal, so that it looks like being different does not make any difference. Does it?

Now, look at the third individual. He is a man too, isn't he? However, somebody may say he is ?different?. Why? Because he is from Africa, that is, he is "black". Same for the fourth individual. She is a woman too, isn't she? She is not "white", anyway, since her skin is dark. In fact, she is from India. They belong to different cultures, and they dress, behave, react to a situation, think differently. And of course the color of their skin and the somatic types are different from the previous ones.

But… we said that differences do not make any difference, so why diversity among cultures should matter more than diversity within a culture? And why the color of skin should matter more than the color of hair or eyes?

Ok, let us go ahead. Look at the fifth individual. She is a woman too, again. She looks ?normal? but she is different from the first girl I showed you: she has only one leg. Also the sixth individual is different: he is affected by the Down Syndrome. Both of them have strong limitations, but they have a pretty normal life: the woman is a surfer and the man is a painter, an artist. Are they ?normal?? A lot of people would say ?no, they are disabled, handicapped people?.

So, what is making an individual normal and what is making a disabled person? Which difference matters and which does not? Should we have at least two arms, two legs and one head? Well, sure the head! ?? So what if I have only one leg? Or one hand? Or just four fingers in the left hand? Or simply what if I am bald-headed? It looks like I am normal if I have no hair but I am a disabled person if I have not a few fingers. By the way, I know nobody who has a perfect body. Each of us has body defects; some are more visible than others, but no body is really perfect. So what about the brain? How good should be my knowledge of math to be normal? Just knowing arithmetic? Differential calculus? Tensor calculus? How good should be my memory? How many numbers, names, facts should I be able to remember? So, it looks like the separation between normal people and disabled people depends on quantity rather than quality, but where is the threshold?

Let us go further. What if I am able to play a violin? Not like Paganini, of course, but let us assume that I am quite good. Most of people does not play violin. Am I normal? Am I disabled? Maybe I am super. So what if I have not a leg but I play a violin? Am I super-disabled? What if I have the brain of a ten years old child but the body of a thirty years old robust guy, and I am able to win a gold medal for weight lifting at the Olympic Games? Am I super-disabled too? So probably each of us is normal in one way, disabled in another, super in a third one? What the overall rating should be?

There could be only one conclusion, at last. Nobody is normal, that is, we are all different. Or if you prefer,?we are all normal, because being different is the normality. Whatever criteria you use to assert that a person is not normal, it is probably possible to find an equivalent criteria to demonstrate that it is true for you too. If you pretend to demonstrate that by logics, of course. There is no discrimination, no distinction, that can be demonstrated by logics. Eventually we are all normal, whatever is our aspect, our behavior, our believes, and our mind. And even if somebody could be called mad, and some other handicapped, there is a bit of insanity in each of us, and each of us has some handicap with respect other people. Therefore it is just a matter of quantity, but be careful to draw the border, because soon or later somebody will place you on the other side of some line too.

Now let me demonstrate exactly the opposite, that is, that?we are all disabled, in some way. The two statements are not in contradiction with each other: they simply demonstrate that the terms "normal" and "disabled" indicate relative concepts.

Look at the six individuals in the image below.

Let us consider first?physical impairment. The first individual, a woman, is paraplegic from birth. So she is a disabled person. Now, look at the next individual. Also the man in that image is on a wheelchair, but simply because he broke his left leg. So he is temporarily disabled, but he is experiencing mostly the same difficulties the paraplegic woman lives through from birth.

An accident might put each of us in such a situation. To have some accident is quite frequent in one person’s lifetime, so most "normal" individuals had experience of a disabled condition at least once in life. But you do not need to have an accident to know how many obstacles an individual on a wheelchair may experience daily. Have you ever walked with a baby pram in a crowded town? If you go in some suitable place, like a park, no problem, but try to go shopping, cross streets, enter buildings walking with a pram or a stroller. It is a real trial!

Let us now consider sensory impairment. For example, the third individual is blind. He cannot see obstacles, he cannot recognize faces in the distance, he cannot appreciate the beauty of paintings or photographs. Have you ever been in such a situation? Do not respond immediately: just think. Have you ever experienced misty weather, when fog is unbelievably thick? Have you ever searched for a flashlight in complete and utter darkness during a black-out? Temporary situations, of course, but during those events you was sensory impaired. Exactly as if you were blindfolded, like the fourth individual in the image above, a woman.

Just look the fifth individual, now. He is fat and older. It should be hard for him to move with agility, walk quickly, climb very steep stairs. Probably there are physical activities he will never practice, as running or jumping. Have you ever practiced breath-held diving? Try it in a sea abounding in fish, like Red Sea or in the Maldives. You will feel awkward, a clumsy and goofy animal in comparison with fishes. You will move slowly and react late. You are out of your environment. Under the water you are a disabled animal.

So, there is no body-related disability that cannot be experienced by a "normal" individual at least once in his/her life; probably more than once. But what about?cognitive?or?intellectual impairment? What about?mental disorder? We might think that we should rarely experiment such conditions. Well, probably it is true, unless you are a hard drinker or a drug addicted. But even if that is not the case, think. Did you ever undergo a surgical operation? How did you feel when you woke up from anesthesia? Some cognitive impairment is also typical of specific pharmaceutical treatment. For example, several psychiatric drugs have impressive side effects on brain.

Anyway there are a lot of people who do not drink hard or take psychiatric drugs. So what? Well, you do not need to experiment some chemical substance to experience mind-related disabilities. Have you ever been in a foreign country? For example, a place where people speak a language that is completely different from yours, maybe using a different alphabet? You have no way to communicate. You do not understand natives and they do not understand you. Even asking a simple question may represent a problem. "What time is it?" "Can you show me the way?" Trust me: you feel really stupid. Just like the last individual in the image, an American tourist in China who does not speak Chinese and got completely lost.

But even if you know more than one language, you might feel embarrassed sometimes. For example, I know some English. When I go to USA for business reasons I always speak English because it is really difficult that someone may speak my language. But I am not so fluent in English as I am in Italian, and even if my English is good enough to ask for direction, have a meal in a restaurant, or even have a meeting with American colleagues, I am perfectly aware that I create the impression of an illiterate person. For example, I can hardly understand jokes or follow the lyrics of a song from radio. If people speak too fast, I may miss some part of what they say. When I speak, I realize that I could say it better, especially if the subject is delicate and may give rise to misunderstanding. Even this article is probably full of mistakes, and in any case a good English writer would have written it differently. I write much better in my language, but as an English writer I am probably poorer than an American teenager. So, when I write in English, I am a disabled.

Language is only a minor obstacle, however, when you go abroad. You may be taken by surprise because of different customs, conventions, even laws. You can easily get in trouble because of your ignorance. Some usage can be so different that it could be antithetical to your believes and habits. Nevertheless it is not necessary to go abroad to feel uncomfortable. It may happen in your country too when you visit a town you have never been before. You can’t get your bearings, for example. In many countries people living in different towns speaks different dialects or have different ways to communicate. What’s polite in a place can be offensive in another and this is true for gestures too. Many years ago, two Danish parents, visiting New York, left their young daughter in her stroller outside the Dallas BBQ restaurant in the East Village of New York while they sat inside. This is perfectly common in Denmark, where the crime rate is low. But in New York, where people chain down trash cans if they want to keep them, police were called when worried passersby questioned child safety. So the two parents were arrested and jailed for two nights. For the American judge they were bad parents, but they were not: they simply were used to a different behavior perfectly safe in their own country.

So, the conclusion is that?we all are disabled?in specific situations. Some people is disabled for the whole lifetime, others experience impairments for a limited amount of time or only under specific circumstances, but soon or later each of us will live through the disability. Think about next time you will meet a so-called "disabled" person.