Disability Awareness

I cannot believe that in the year 2016, in a modern society where people are accepted for everything from homosexuality to having bright green hair and pierced eyeballs people with a disability are still treated as a lesser human being. Yes, perhaps life for someone with a disability is vastly different to someone who does not have a disability. However life for someone with a disability is also hugely similar to that of someone who does not have a disability. 

 Almost everyone feels emotions of some sort, everyone has basic human needs, everyone needs emotional and mental stimulation and support. Someone who is in a wheelchair is not necessarily 'stuck in a wheelchair', they most certainly do not 'have no prospects for an independent future' and most importantly of all many of them do not 'suffer'. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word 'suffer' as 'Experience or be subjected to (something bad or unpleasant).' A disability is not necessarily bad or unpleasant. It can on occasion limit someone's ability to experience certain things but most of the time that is just due to a lack of awareness and support from other people. 

 Disabled people have been known to do 'normal' things such as get jobs, settle down, drive a car, bake cakes and garden. They have also been known to do extraordinary things such as gain doctorates, have families, invent things and run countries. 

 Your life is only as limited as you allow it to be. Peoples barriers go up when they are treated like less of a person, and they lose confidence in themselves and interest in doing things. Right now, all over the world, people who are defined as 'disabled' are achieving incredible things. Things that as little as 40 years ago would have been nigh on impossible. 

 A disability is defined as 'A physical or mental condition that limits a person’s movements, senses, or activities' by the Oxford English Dictionary. And the operative word in this sentence is limits.  Because as the days and months go on, slowly but surely the members of the population who have a disability are changing the definition of disabled, making a difference to the world and most importantly, changing the thought pattern of the rest of the world.