HOME text version of navigation bar
SEARCH 1,000
stories, 75 discussions |
|
ARCHIVES | BOOKS | CRITERIA | DIGEST | HOME | LINKS | MAP | MISSION | ONGOING DISCUSSIONS | RULES |
|
Has segregation from nondisabled others helped or hurt you? Why?
[ Break Out home | Contents | Search | Post | Reply | Next | Previous | Break Out story ]
Name: Stacye Smallwood
Email: Fuznav83@aol.com
Date: 06 Oct 2000
Time: 14:53:31
Remote Name: ac93ee73.ipt.aol.com
The loftiest chain which remains to repress the disabled is one that is neither seen nor easily broken; rather, it is one that closes in around us against our will and knowledge. It is one that is felt somewhere deep within the pit of a disabled person's soul. When a child asks a disabled person about his/her challenge and the child's mother's face burns with a blush as she scolds him/her, that is but one link in the chain. Ignorance is the strongest link in the chain because it has been tempered in the fire of discomfort for eons and all other links spring forth from it.
The same flame which reddened the woman's face and spread across it with such intensity should be the one that fuels disabled people's desire to inform the unenlightened. Information can erode this iron-clad first link. Though questions may cause tears; after all, wetness causes metal to rust. There are other links to be broken, though ignorance is strongest.
When a disabled person ventures where his/her "kind" haven't been and the words, "That isn't done here," are the whisper that haunts the back of his/her mind, another link is set within the chain. When people say things like "good job" with honeyed condescension in their voices as they see a disabled person go where they aren't used to seeing disabled people, that link is reinforced. Integration is a major force that must be employed to break that link. After all, disabled people are the only minority that represents all races creeds and belief systems. The heavy stones thrown in the way of people while they are aspiring toward better lives will be the cornerstones in the path of tomorrow's generation.
Preconceived opinions provide the final shackle for the chain as they choke the humanity out of a disabled person. When a person responds to a disabled person his/her own age as if he/she were suspended in an ageless never-never-land and don't share many of the same thoughts and feelings the other person has, a barrier is created. Many times, if a disabled person is treated that way often enough, he/she will become more childlike to fit the ill-made mold. Reform is the only way to break that link. Though we cannot always change the opinions of others, we can refuse to allow those notions to inhibit the things we may want to do as individuals.
We must not be limited by the pace board mask that some members of society would have us wear. We are not eunuchs or dolts. Nor are all of us as disabled people striving for the same goals. There is one thing that we all should work toward as an end to inhibition and pain. Brothers and sisters, let us break the chain!
Copyright © 2000 Stacye Smallwood. All rights reserved.
Last changed: October 20, 2003
text version of
navigation bar Help us serve you better. Complete our quick survey.
Send mail to jhasse@jvlnet.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 1999 Hasse Communication Counseling. All rights reserved.