As you are reading this blog, you might be tempted to think, “Poor guy. I sure am glad I am not in his place,” or, simply shrug it off because “It doesn’t really apply to me.” Who knows? You might be right. You may never have to deal with a disability.
Let me tell you a bit about me. I was born completely normal. No Cerebral Palsy. I even started to walk when I was about ten months old. Then I developed a high fever. My parents took me to the doctor only to be sent home. When I wasn’t getting better, my parents took me to the doctor again. And I was sent home again. When everything was said and done, my parents were bringing home a severey disabled child. I had Cerebral Palsy.
Now, when one has a physically disability and lives in a big city, one naturally comes into contact with many, many other people who also have physical disabilities. This has been especially true in my life. From the age of three, I had been going to school. For most of my childhood, I was in classrooms exclusively for Special Ed. children. I went to hospitals that were for children who had disabilities. I went to camps for children who had disabilities. I knew a lot of children that had disabilities. I mean a lot.
When one is around people who have disabilities, one tends to find out 1) what kind of disability others have and 2) how they came to have their disabilities. I don’t know. Maybe it’s like those who are or were in a war comparing scars, or today’s generation showing their tats and piercings, and relating how and why they got them. I guess we are simply curious. Whatever the reason, it does bring us closer.
Having been in these kinds of environments for several decades, though, I have heard a lot of stories. Some were born with birth defects. Others were born premature. Still others had complications at birth. Pretty normal, so far, eh?
Well, my schools got all the kids that no longer were allowed to be in the General Ed. population. Asthma. Serious heart conditions. Arthritis. Children travelling back to their home country for a vacation and contracting Polio. Muscular Dystrophy. Swimming accidents where the child either was without oxygen for too long and brain damage occurred, or the child broke his neck. A little boy jumping off a swing and landed on his head winding up with brain damage. A little girl fell out of a tree and was paralyzed. A boy placing pennies on the railroad tracks (hoping that the train would flatten the coins) didn’t get out of the way fast enough and lost his leg. Victims of traffic accidents or drunk drivers. Several burn victims. Several car accidents where the teens merely wanted to have fun that night, but wound up being disabled for the rest of their lives. Several gunshot victims. The victims were made up of both innocent and gangmembers. I am leaving out a lot, too. However, all of these things, plus a lot more, happened to people that I went to school with. All of the people were under 18 years old.
After I got out of high school, I met even more people with even more disabilities. Multiple Sclerosis. People who are sight-impaired or blind. People who are hearing-impaired or deaf. Diabetes that got out of hand. Young and old having strokes. Atheletes who have had very bad injuries or those common injuries simply are taking their toll with age. People who have suffered injuries on the job. Home owners who sustained injuries doing home repairs.
It should be a sobering realization that nobody is ever promised physical health tomorrow.
