Do you know how many Americans have a disability? One in Five. Yes, one in five. But you might not have known that because of how society sometimes labels disability - an easy to see, physical handicap you are born with. Or maybe a broken leg. But actually there's a lot more to it than that.
Now it's time for a little personal experience, how exciting.
Last year I had stomach surgery. I was given strict orders from my doctor to not walk certain distances at one time (seriously, I was given a 600 feet restriction) and under no circumstances for the next three months was I to lift anything remotely heavy or walk upstairs. How easy this was for a college student with a backpack who gets to climb up mountains of stairs just to get to campus! How easy for anyone. So I was given a doctor's note and went to the Utah DMV and filled out plenty of paperwork to get a limited-time disability parking pass.
Everyday I drove on campus and had to show the guards my ID and my pass, and most of the time they eyed me wearily because >GASP
This went on for weeks and I got used to their glaring. One day Lance was with me and the guards threw a fit because of course we were both faking (People with disabilities can't have friends! Let a lone a fiance who drives them to school) and Lance got pissed. What Lance said to the guy was good enough for me, so we'll let that one pass.
Then one lovely day the university police were cruisin' around and saw me park and get out of my car and walk looking seemingly normal (minus the slight gimpish walking because you'd be surprised how many muscles you use in your stomach while moving your legs). The cruiser guy then got out of his police-looking car (which he left in the middle of the road) and chased me down. Seriously. He immediately accused me of faking and demands to see my parking permit.
Really dude?
While fuming, I showed him my disability pass, ID and doctor's note (which I luckily had with me) before he left.
So... what do you think? Have you ever seen someone park on campus and loathe them? Think, why the heck do they get to park up here, they don't look disabled. I did and sometimes still do. But I should know, maybe disabilities aren't always visible, huh. The first step to changing how disability is portrayed in the media is changing how we see and react to it in real life.
HAHA ok...love this story...but i really want to know what Lance said:)
ReplyDeleteWe recently talked in my Marriage class about responding to others with charity and giving them the benefit of the doubt. It's so easy for our first reaction (and judgment) to be "What an idiot!" or "Who do they think they are!?" when we see a perfect stranger do something, but we need to train our minds to have a charitable first reaction that would include something along the lines of "hmmm that's too bad. I wonder what they're going through."
ReplyDeleteGive this challenge a try. I was certainly surprised to learn how many of my "gut reactions" were negative, judgmental, and selfish.
Thanks for sharing, girls. I agree, we generally have no idea what people are going through and need to stop being so judgmental, in a mean way!
ReplyDelete