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What experiences in your life have helped you "love your disability?"
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From: Betty Alfred
Email: astrobrd@aol.com
Date: 04 May 1999
Time: 02:06:43
Remote Name: spider-wo052.proxy.aol.com
Remote User:
Yes, I love my disability. I don't love the pain, but it is part of who I am. The mobility impairment is part of who I am. Life with crutches and a wheelchair is life with crutches and a wheelchair.
This disability has opened my eyes to a whole new world of thinking. I never contemplated life and society to this degree before. This disability makes me think and study and learn! It has led me to other people who think, too. It has led me to concern myself with the future of children with disabilities and has forced me to consider my responsibility to them.
My boss publicly referred to me as "half a person who couldn't do much" long after I knew I loved ALL of myself. Half a person -- ha! When I complained to his boss he tried to placate me, and patronize me, then he sent me back to my cubicle to be a good girl and do my job! Ha! He did me a favor! He ENERGIZED me and made me an activist! ("She's alive -- SHE'S ALIVE!")
Disability has flushed the eugenically-minded bigots out into the open where I can see them clearly. It has also shown me who the good people are, the people whose means of providing accommodation start with right thought -- the very foundation of true accommodation. I have never before seen people with such clarity!
I wouldn't go back to the dark pit of ignorance if they paid me. I wouldn't go back to a life of frivolous thought and fruitless pursuit for any price. Disability saved me from those things and, yes, I love my disability.
Copyright © 1999 Betty Alfred. All rights reserved.
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