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This Matters
had little control over many of her muscles and had to be in a
wheelchair. She also had difficulty speaking. What would you think
looking at someone like her? Would you see a capable woman
locked up in a dysfunctional body or would you not see…would she
be another person to turn your head away from on the streets.
Would you immediately assume that her mind wasn’t working
properly and that she wasn’t like you because she couldn’t produce
normal thoughts and ideas. Because in actual fact she could. She
had a perfectly functioning mind; it was only the outside that was
being affected by this disease. But you couldn’t see that.
How would you feel if you were like her –bound to a wheelchair
or had any other form of disability? You would constantly be judged
on your appearance and not seen for anything but your disability.
Imagine that. Now think about those who face this problem every
single day. Judging anyone on their appearance can harm their self-
esteem as well as the esteem of their family and friends.
It’s basic respect not to judge anyone on their appearance, we’re
told this all the time. We’re told not to judge anyone on their gender
or skincolour, so why should we judge them on their wheelchair or
way of movement? Why should it be any different for people with
disabilities? Yes, they may look slightly different to you and I, but
they’re still the same in so many ways. They have the same people
behind them and the same childhood memories and ambitions.
They deserve the same respect too.
Doing that exercise in class didn’t give me an understanding of
the condition of every disabled person and what they are going
through– in fact only a tiny percentage of people have this severe of
cerebral palsy –but instead it showed me how little I understood
about the lives and conditions of people with disabilities. It showed
me that if all I could judge them off was their appearance then I
couldn’t judge at all.
So, next time you see someone in a wheelchair, don’t initially
assume anything about them. Think about the stories you can’t see,
hidden behind the cover… and think again. What do you know
about this person… and is it enough to judge them on? If all you
have to judge them off are the coloured blocks that you can see then
don’t judge at all, because there are always more coloured blocks
stacked up behind them. In various patterns and shapes. Always
there. And just because you can’t see them, doesn’t mean they don’t
matter. Because they matter. This matters.
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