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Home / Thoughts / Sean's Thoughts / November 18, 1997

November 18, 1997

Written by Sean on Tuesday, November 18, 1997

What are we emulating when we pretend? What’s the image we’re projecting by using our braces or wheelchairs? I guess that for some of us it’s a question of showing ourselves under the best light. Show an image of a "well adapted" paraplegic. Isn’t it a lie though?

It’s been brought to my attention that there are no well adapted PWD. Well adapted carries an undertone of cheerfulness, of not really worrying about it. But you can’t gleefully ignore your disability. It’s in your face every moment of the day. Many PWD do project a similar image of carrying on everyday as if nothing happened, they’re the Super Crips.

They use that image, often unconsciously, to gain approval from society, from us… In return, we want to project the image of the ?well adapted? para in order to gain this very same acceptance.

For “them” to do this is to live a lie of sort. It’s only self-destructive in the end, negating the very essence of who they are. For “us” to use this image of not having a problem is only re-enforcing the ignorance society has of PWD. Acting (or non-acting) on ignorance of facts leads us to do some damage.

To believe that all is honky-dory, or *could* be just fine, is being rather shallow, and refusing to open our eyes to some reality. I’m not judging here… I’ve been guilty of doing it myself. No, I’m just saying that we ought to, at the very least, acknowledge the fact well adapted isn’t a reality of disability.

Perhaps when we see someone we think well adapted, we ought to think more in terms of being functional than “well adapted”, being functional because there is no other choice.

So… What am I saying? I guess I’d like for us to pay more attention to what really is, rather than to build a world for ourselves without getting as many of the facts as we could. We are what we are and have needs and compulsions. That doesn’t absolute us from ignorance and shallowness and???

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I may alienate a few people by putting thoughts that are disturbing, ideas that will rock us out of our secure little world. I may loose approval of some of my guests and friends. I can only say so what? If only one person gets my message, then it wasn’t in vain. Besides, this page is *my* page, I use it to reflect on where *I* am at, what I am thinking about, what I am living. :-))) So read and learn, or don’t learn, be happy, or be angry about this site…