Disability

 

With the Paralympics, I’m watching people who are described as ‘disable’ playing “murderball” which I would have never attempted, even when I was young and healthy.

I was lucky. I also was naïve. All the kids I grew up with seemed pretty normal. Their brothers and sisters seemed normal. ‘Normal’ being the standard in Jim Crow Southern society.

Kids that had any disabilities were sent to ‘special’ schools. Any uncles who were injured in the Big War did not come to family parties but resided in Veteran Hospitals. There were no crutches or wheelchairs in the school halls, except if there was an accident. If the prognosis was more severe than a brief cast for everyone to autograph, the kids were taken out of class.

Mental disabilities were never discussed. Families were shunned as if it may spread through the community. There were special education classes held in private school and some businesses used the disabled for cheap labor.

Our prejudices also disabled people. If ‘they’ were not the same religion or class or race, they were unable to get certain employment or live in certain areas or even vote. Women were disabled for advancement due to the fact that they may have to take maternity leaves.

Through time medical advancements have provided artificial limbs but technology cannot bring sight to the blind…yet. When in a crowd, the disabled will still be avoided.

I was introduced to disability later in life. My first wife had a down syndrome brother. I’d never experienced anyone like this, up close and personal. I was told of a father who committed suicide, then found out one of my family’s uncles had also killed himself, but was never discussed. I was introduced to families with only a single parent (for whatever reasons) and this seemed a disability in the society accepted two-parent world. No one I knew had a second mother or a stepdad.

The mental quirks and variations from the norm came out, but it was the 60’s. Whether the substances caused or just revealed the piacular behavior is up for discussion.

Old age is dis-habituating. After a life filled with excess and good times, parts start to break down. Activity slows down, eyesight fades, hearing gets lost in the muddy mix and internal plumbing starts failing. For all the surviving friends, there are replacement parts to keep the skeleton moving until the inevitable catches up.

If you were ‘unattractive’ or didn’t follow the fashion trends of the time, you were disable from dating the captain of the football team or head cheerleader. If your SAT scores were below par, you were disabled from attending certain higher education establishments. If your employment didn’t pay suitable wages, you were disabled to taste the finer dishes in life.

I ride a bicycle. I’ve ridden a bicycle for years. I will continue to ride a bicycle as long as I can. I’m not attempting to ride to the county or ride on the highway, for I take the back streets and avoid traffic whenever possible. I maybe creaky getting out of bed, but after a 5-mile ride, the body is limber and the juices in the tubes in my body have been circulated by an active pump.

If I were to fall or lose eyesight or forget which route to take, I would be disabled for I have no automobile or assistance to attend a Tummy Temple congregation for substance or mail my monthly payments for utilities. This is what options offered to disability and I’m fully aware of the consequences.