Are You Listening?

If discomfort is the absence of comfort and Disregard refers to the lack of regard,What does disability stand for?

Are we right in 'accepting' this term, really? In what way is this word, this dismal negative portrayal, going to make the person feel comfortable about it? Am I supposed to feel better if I am called "disabled" instead of "handicapped"?

I may not have hands, but I have a heart. A soul.
I may not have vision, but I have a mind.
I may not have perfect mental faculties, but I can sense and share love, and happiness.
I may not have a perfectly functioning body. But that does NOT make me a DIS- abled person!

If you can't dance, does that make you a person who is completely devoid of talent? Of course not!
If you can't hear… does that, then, make you someone who is 'dis'abled? A person with no abilities?

Given a choice, I would love to describe this section of people, as "diff-abled". A short form for the words 'differently abled'. Which is what these people are, really. Which is what, we all are - Not all of us can sing or dance or think creatively. We are all differently abled, just as how some of us cannot see or hear or speak. About time we started to acknowledge that people with "diff-abilities" are us. And that there's no 'them' and 'we'. Its 'us'. Period.

And why should it be an object of wonder and amazement when a person with, say, hearing impairment wins a medal in running at the Olympics? Of course, the hearing impairment does not in any way diminish the person's other abilities, does it? Its not as if his/her feet are controlled by his/her eardrum! High time we accepted people with "diff-abilities" as 'normal' people. And give them the best treatment that they could ever ask for-to be treated like non-disabled people. No special attention, thank you. If I am visually challenged and have won an award for singing, the award was not won ".. despite the disability.." -these two are two completely separate entities! To give an analogy, would you ever say, "…despite being bad at photography, the girl won the game of chess…" ?!

Of course, Disability was never an issue… to those who were not listening.

…are YOU listening?

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