transabled.org

I’ll agree with that. I know someone else, with DID, who has been abused by hospitals because the doctors “didn’t believe” in DID- it’s ridiculous. Your friend definitely was showing intelligence and clear thought to say that. Who knows what hte doctors would have done had he told the truth.

I also think that’s the case. For some people it’s the case, too, they’d rather take a risky procedure with a high chance of mortality than risk living their lives a “cripple”. For things like comas I suppose I can understand it, but in general? It really is sad.

I know there are some deaf-blind people who can only communicate through tactile (and, I imagine, this applies to deaf people who can only communicate through sign language as well) and feel extremely hurt because their relatives won’t learn it- and it’s like their loved ones are saying their words aren’t worth the effort needed to “hear” them. And that’s hwo a lot of people see differently abled people- not worth the effort (even if no more effort is required than with “able” people)

Sean, I’m afraid you are right. Social surveys show it, too, as you said (could you give some sources, would be interesting for me).

Our question is: How can we help a little bit to change this attitude?

Why is suicide so much more accepted? Is there some romantic notion about it? The last resort of poets and other artists? A cry for help?

I guess people regard suicide as a cry for help and the consequence of acute despair. Something spontaneous in most cases. Death is so unknown and far and feared that only very few people dare to judge when it is about it.

Disability is something near, but totally strange, and so people dare to judge. They don’t know what they are thinking, talking and feeling about.

Our question can only be: What can we do? Not much, I’m afraid. It’s the disabled people who have to educate the others.

But maybe even BIID/transability/BI (for Body Incongruity) can make some people think: When somebody DESIRES a “disability”, maybe it’s really not worse than death?

We all fear a lot of things. Maybe many of them are not half as bad as they seem to us. To quote F.D.Roosevelt: We have nothing to fear but fear itself.

Which reminds me of myself. At the moment I am full of fears – of the future, my financial situation, because of BI(ID), etc. Maybe I should read what I have written here…

We need good movies and novels where people with disabilities act without becoming heroes or sufferers, but just as everybody else. Then the view on disabilities may slowly change.

Paralympics are good, but I find it strange how their participants are described as particularly brave etc. They just like to do sports, just in another way or league as non-disabled people.

Maybe every schoolchild should spend a week in a wheelchair and a week blindfolded etc. in his/her life. Some schools already do something like that. Maybe these children see that life can be lived being paralysed, blind or whatever.

We also should advocate strongly integrated schools where children with disabilities are part of the normal school system and take part in the normal classes.

Well, but we are few, and we are weak, and we can’t change the world. We must be patient. We have our own disabilities, which nobody sees, but is there. Hopefully WE will always prefer disability to suicide!

“Why is suicide so much more accepted? Is there some romantic notion about it? The last resort of poets and other artists? A cry for help?”
In other cultures, suicide is/was the noble thing to do- far better than shaming your family (which being seen as having a mental illness of some kind does. Possibly even a physical “disability”). In this culture- it’s easier to understand death than disability. Funerals are all around us- dead people are treated with reverent respect, words about how tragic it is that they died so young or how at least they lived a good, long life. PWD? They’re just broken drains on society- not worth knowing. (obviously this isn’t true, but too many think it is) A PWD who is able to do anything a “normal” person is able to do is hailed as an amazing hero- so brave for “overcoming” their “disability”- because people just can’t grasp that a person with a disability is a PERSON. Just as capable as anyone- although they may need different help because we’ve built society to impede them.

Such a dichotomy with how disabilities are treated is a quiet sign that society hasn’t truly accepted the disabled as equals yet. It’s sad that at the same time as people are trying to get the disabled to be looked at as equals of the able bodied masses disability is seen as a horrible condition that is only detrimental and should be fixed at all costs.

Sadly, despite the claims society makes, the integrity of ones body seems to be all important. Until that changes, being disabled is considered a fate worse than death and means those who seek disability are worse than deranged, and those who are disabled are either poor tortured souls, or incredibly brave people. None of those individuals are people.

Unfortunately people are way to fixated on the disability, how it prevents people from doing things. We fail to realize that a disability is just another group of limits. Yes it’s more noticeable, and yes some disabilities are fairly debilitating, the fact remains that everyone has limits, but those can be overcome. For instance, I am by no means an athlete, there are people with no legs who can run faster than me. Which of us is actually less able?

Now I would never try to marginalize a disability, it does create a roadblock on the path of life to be sure, but society as a whole needs to refocus their attention on what can be done, not what can’t.