Thursday, July 26, 2007

Johnny Who?

I never, ever, ever in my life thought I would ever quote the star of an MTV show with a very unfortunate name, but here goes.

In last year's movie, The Ringer, Knoxville notes in the bonus features that
“God has taken something from them in one area, but He’s made them extraordinary in all the other areas.”


It's a great quote, and it really reflects the truth of what disabilities mean. Some people say that a disabiled sense in one area actually heightens your other senses. I don't think it does - I think it makes you rely more on your other senses, something you don't do when you have all of them functioning properly.

"Rely" is the key word in this discussion. When some is disabled, they cannot rely on that part of them that is disabled. I have a speech impediment. I cannot trust that my communication will come through clearly just by me mumbling. I must find ways of making sure I am clear, and I do that by relying on different tricks that help me get around my impediment.

People with more severe disabilities rely on more severe solutions: a full-time aide, speech devices, wheelchairs, friends. They all "rely." And it is this reliance that offers to teach us so much, and which leads into my next two posts. The first will be about where we place value when it comes to disabilities, and the second will be on the object of our reliance.

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