I was told my experience didn't count since I was not truly blind. I never said I was completely blind but that didn't count. He repeated the same comment and I stormed off in a rage. Yes, I know that was not grownup but I was frustrated.
I got angry because when I asked the people in my class how many of them had asked a blind person if they had a "good" life, the answer was none. In most cases, the didn't even know anybody with a disability. In other cases, they had a casual acquaintance with a person with a disability and had man an assumption that everybody thought that.
I haven't done any polls but I don't think that people in that class were unusual. I have been in other classes where similar subjects were brought up, and the same answers were given. I can't understand how somebody can say people in group X have miserable lives without even ASKING them. I also can't understand how people can say they're so compassionate in understanding the misery of their lives, yet don't have the empathy to ask if that was true. It is such a basic misunderstanding.
I hope that most people don't think like some of my classmates but sadly, I think they do. In every case, where a disabled child was killed by a parent I heard of, the article was written where all the sympathy was for the parent. It went how miserable the child, how hard it was for the parent (what the hell), how people must understand how hard it was. If a "normal" child was killed by a parent, the parent was seen as murderous scum.
The only difference is the presence of a disability. Have one, and your life is presumed to be so terrible that being murdered is considered a good thing. I don't understand how having good intentions led to terrible acts. If the results of love and hate are the same, is it really love? When people proclaim compassion, should that get them a pass?
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/BADD2014">Blogging Against Disablism Day</a>
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