It's About Time...

Tickle my hide, it's about time that I finally read this statement in an online article that describes Trisomy 21:

"Down's Syndrome is not a disease and people who have it do not suffer and are not ill with the condition."

I could rant endlessly about how frustrating it is to continually read about how my daughter suffers from her extra chromosome or how irate it makes me to hear so many people define that extra chromosome as an incurable disease. And of course those words are always said in a hushed voice emphasizing the sadness of the situation; the situation that is someone's life. I could spend days detailing the offense I take in the knowledge that it is not only socially acceptable to pity those with disabilities, but that we are encouraged and expected to subscribe to the belief that disability itself is pitiful.

Disability, in our society, signifies dependence and in a world that expects independence, the idea of need is one that is most undesirable. I pulled myself up by my bootstraps, why can't you? It's only acceptable to not be able to pull yourself up if you can't even get those boots on by yourself because that is truly disabling. Everyone knows that is just sad. It is sad to not be able to help yourself.

We, as a society, are expected to pity those who lead a life we wouldn't want for our own...one we wouldn't want because we don't understand it and our misunderstanding frightens us. Nevermind what the acuality of that life is; it is perfectly fine for us to apply our own insecure inferences to another and judge the quality of their life. And if the pity in our eyes seeps out in our speech and mannerisms, well that is just fine because everybody knows that disability is something innately pathetic. In fact, those with disabilities expect our pity because they deserve it. It would be uncompassionate to not feel and express our pity for those less fortunate than us.

How self righteous is that?

As if societal norms are anything to live up to anyway?

I'm not even going to get into how completely subjective the entire attitude I described above is, but I will say that my hostility is tempered by the knowledge that this mindset is often subconscious. I truly believe that the majority of people whom avert their eyes when faced with disability don't even realize why they feel uncomfortable, whether the underlying emotion is pity, guilt, fear, or even disgust. They don't realize how ingrained the societal ideal of perfection is and conversely how distasteful imperfection is.

But, I digress (imagine that!).

Kudos to PeterBorough Today for growing it's own backbone and flaunting it in the face of some pretty deep seeded societal assumptions. WooHoo!

It's about time.