Living with a Disability

Reading the NewYork Times article, “Becoming Disabled,” stirred some emotions. I felt the writer, Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, did a fine job of crossing the boundaries of what it means to be disabled as well as what is a disability. So many of us living with a disability, like a progressive motor neuron disease, have had to face the realization, often far too soon in life, that we are now different. Initially, we find it to be a lonely world out there. Fortunately, with the right support, we emerge from the tunnel and discover there is life after disability.

Below is an excerpt from the Times article. I hope you enjoy it.

BecomingDisabled

Roughly one in five Americans lives with a
disability. So where is our pride movement?

“… The fact is, most of us will move in and out of disability in our lifetimes, whether we do so through illness, an injury or merely the process of aging.

The World Health Organization defines disability as an umbrella term that encompasses impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions that reflect the complex interaction between “features of a person’s body and features of the society in which he or she lives.” The Americans with Disabilities Act tells us that disability is “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.”

Obviously, this category is broad and constantly shifting, so exact statistics are hard to come by, but the data from our most reliable sources is surprising. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in five adults in the United States is living with a disability. The National Organization on Disability says there are 56 million disabled people. Indeed, people with disabilities are the largest minority group in the United States, and as new disability categories such as neurodiversity, psychiatric disabilities, disabilities of aging and learning disabilities emerge and grow, so does that percentage.”

“… Still, most Americans don’t know how to be disabled. Few of us can imagine living with a disability or using the technologies that disabled people often need. Since most of us are not born into disability but enter into it as we travel through life, we don’t get acculturated the way most of us do in our race or gender. Yet disability, like any challenge or limitation, is fundamental to being human — a part of every life. Clearly, the border between “us” and “them” is fragile. We just might be better off preparing for disability than fleeing from it.”

“… Becoming disabled demands learning how to live effectively as a person with disabilities, not just living as a disabled person trying to become nondisabled. It also demands the awareness and cooperation of others who don’t experience these challenges. Becoming disabled means moving from isolation to community, from ignorance to knowledge about who we are, from exclusion to access, and from shame to pride.”

Photo:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelviews/