I have never feared to talk about disability, whether it is my own or others. I am a willing to converse with an open-mindedness and a fair approach. Though I am an introvert by nature, I would still make acquaintance with almost everyone without discrimination of any kind.
To this day, I still hold on to my innocent uncluttered belief, that human beings have the potential of being good. Much has happened in my life, but still, this oldest thought of mine stays with me. I know these thoughts of non-discriminate thinking makes me vulnerable; but also, gives me the inner strength.
I know some of the best people and great personalities in this life. Honestly, I see all of them as uniqueness personified. I don’t see disability, period! And neither do I believe in hiding the facts of my own personality.
So, why are the conversations on disability, seem, so, artificial? Most would rather brush it under the conversation carpet and forget about its existence. Sometimes, they even pretend to ignore the big white elephant in the room.
Among the many disabilities, Cerebral Palsy (CP) is one of them. This physical disability is grouped under non-progressive, non-contagious disease that affects physical mobility and development.
This affects certain parts of the brain which skews up the motor control areas of the brain. Plainly, it is a disability which results in disorder of movement with high percentage among males than in females.
Characteristics of CP are abnormal muscle tone, slouched posture, stinted reflexes or motor development and coordination. Sometimes the joint and bone deformities which makes it stiff and inflexible. Renowned symptoms being spasticity, spasms, involuntary movements, shaky walking, unable to balance and shrinking body muscle mass.
The point that takes the cake is that it is not a curse. CP cannot be cured, and it can only be treated, and that too, for its connected complication arising as the child grows into adulthood.
I am going to list a few CP glamorous people and all of them have one thing in common. They all have the gift of the gabs! Chris Fonseca, Geri Jewell, Josh Blue, Maysoon Zayid, and Christopher Widdows. Welcome to the world of stand-up comedian who will shake you up in your shoes while not being steady in their own.
The first time when I checked out Maysoon Zayid’s Ted talk titled “I got 99 problems…palsy is just one” – was I galvanized to write, ‘Yes Sireee!’ I was so sure! But then, I didn’t. I sat with her talk and churned it around in my head for nearly three days.
But then I said what is wrong with seeing humour in one’s disability. I say, “three cheers to all the comedians with CP!” For being brave to mock your own disability with great alacrity is required skillset of a kind. I still feel that I suck at comedy. Others in my previous offices would cut jokes like it is no one’s business.
I remember once when my laughter left me embarrassed in a Seminar gathering. Steve Almond who had written “God Bless America” was reading from his book to us, the green eared writers. There was a passage about visiting a counsellor. Given that I make trips to the psychiatric unit on a regular basis, I could get the whiff of the humour and surprisingly, I let out a loud laugh.
It turned out that I was the only person who laughed in that room. But the Steve Almond gave casual comment about it and continued to read on. Sadly, my fellow classmates didn’t get the joke about counselling coach and the rambling patient sharing their personal unresolvable woes.
But then, it was one of the best Friday Seminar sessions at CCA that I enjoyed and cherish to date. Essentially, that is when I knew I was fine with my sense of humour, even though it can bring me down a peg or two.
I found the speaker of the Ted Talk Maysoon Zayid to be funny, yet sharp, and matter of fact. Sometimes, it is not so much empathy or sympathy that are expected, but to see beyond the external factors to the real person within, that I believe will take little individual effort on both the parties forging a relationship.
Being a friend with no fixed terms or fit the frame of socially ok need strong personality from within. Two equals can always find something common if shred away and shriek from judging another by our own biases.
I was diagnosed with Schizophrenia in 2003 and since then, have been living with it. I understood, if some don’t understand me at all, it is still okay to find my rainbow of happiness and humour in life separate from them.
Acceptance by others is hard won and I know this for a fact that I have tried to repel reaction, that I sometimes face when I disclose my disability to others. It makes me feel sad at times. To me ‘life is a lesson’ where you learn constantly, if your faith in your dream are unshaken, then, standing up for your dream would become a personal choice and a battle hard won!
Research Source
http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/cp-famous.shtml
Itinerant Storyteller 