Disable your conditioning
In 1992, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution to observe December 3rd of every year as International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
In spite of having a friend who was a person of determination, I did not know it till I read a status he had posted in social media.
Maybe I would have registered the date in memory if I had looked upon him as being “disabled.” But for me, he is as normally abled as any other person I have known.
Which is why, when I saw his status, my first thought was “Do I wish him or don’t I? What would hurt him? My wishing or not wishing him? Was it a day to remind him starkly of his disability or a day that he is proud to observe for all his many successes he’s achieved?”
No sooner did this thought flash through my mind than I knew that I had to greet him on his special day.
Coming to think of it, don’t we all have some disability or the other? Being a woman is sometimes such a disability, yet I look forward to wishes on March 8th, International Women’s Day. Old age is a disability yet we celebrate our birthdays year after year. Fat, you are hindered in your activities, thin, and that’s something to be worried about too. Tall? Short? We have a problem there, don’t we?
OK, what I am trying to say is that none of us are perfect. Yet, we tend to discriminate, we tend to not accept, we feel an uneasiness at whatever is not “normal.” The disability, dear reader, is not in them; it is in our minds, in our inability to accept someone who is a person of determination.
I picked up my phone and called him. The big “thank you” he said in his usual cheery voice gave me my answer.
Vidya Shankar
(Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Dec 9, 2017)
http://gulftoday.ae/portal/5854ab3d-3938-4b6d-8536-e76733004c04.aspx
Sheikh Mohammed said that people with disabilities will be called "people of determination" from now on.https://www.khaleejtimes.com/news/gen...
Check out these Pages on Facebook:
Vidya Shankar: The Quintessential Word
Shankar Ramakrishnan: Out of my Focus
Vishnumayam
www.facebook.com
In spite of having a friend who was a person of determination, I did not know it till I read a status he had posted in social media.
Maybe I would have registered the date in memory if I had looked upon him as being “disabled.” But for me, he is as normally abled as any other person I have known.
Which is why, when I saw his status, my first thought was “Do I wish him or don’t I? What would hurt him? My wishing or not wishing him? Was it a day to remind him starkly of his disability or a day that he is proud to observe for all his many successes he’s achieved?”
No sooner did this thought flash through my mind than I knew that I had to greet him on his special day.
Coming to think of it, don’t we all have some disability or the other? Being a woman is sometimes such a disability, yet I look forward to wishes on March 8th, International Women’s Day. Old age is a disability yet we celebrate our birthdays year after year. Fat, you are hindered in your activities, thin, and that’s something to be worried about too. Tall? Short? We have a problem there, don’t we?
OK, what I am trying to say is that none of us are perfect. Yet, we tend to discriminate, we tend to not accept, we feel an uneasiness at whatever is not “normal.” The disability, dear reader, is not in them; it is in our minds, in our inability to accept someone who is a person of determination.
I picked up my phone and called him. The big “thank you” he said in his usual cheery voice gave me my answer.
Vidya Shankar
(Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Dec 9, 2017)
http://gulftoday.ae/portal/5854ab3d-3938-4b6d-8536-e76733004c04.aspx
Sheikh Mohammed said that people with disabilities will be called "people of determination" from now on.https://www.khaleejtimes.com/news/gen...
Check out these Pages on Facebook:
Vidya Shankar: The Quintessential Word
Shankar Ramakrishnan: Out of my Focus
Vishnumayam
www.facebook.com
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