Misconceptions

How many times has this happened to you?  You’re apprehensive about an event that lies ahead, something which you have never before experienced.  As the day gets closer, your apprehension rises.  You have difficulty concentrating on anything but your fear and anxiety.  Then the day comes, the event happens, and it goes much better than you anticipated.  You look back and wonder what you were so apprehensive about! 

These initial apprehension come from an intrinsic natural human reaction; fear of the unknown.

Today, I’d like to focus on a few reasons some tend to shy away from a people with disabilities (PWD).  As a disabled person myself, the reaction is something I notice.  My method of handling with this reaction is to deal with the people in a relaxed fashion.  When people realize that I share their innate humanity, their entire demeanor changes.

So I believe 2 related human reactions play a role in the way people view PWD:  1) Fear of the unknown and 2) vulnerability.  People may look at me and say “that really could happen to me”, and human reaction to the emotion involved with vulnerability is to withdraw.  The truth is this, my friends; you are indeed vulnerable; as humans, we all are!  The common bond that brings us together?  Our humanity.  With humanity comes imperfection.

As with many things in life, the unknown creates apprehension and results in misconceptions. Here are a few:

1. “Oh, you work?”  Yes I do, as do many PWD.  The percentage of PWD who don’t work is higher than among the non-disabled population.  Since the types of jobs PWD can do may be limited, it is more difficult for disabled persons to find jobs.  The fact that I use an electric wheelchair limits applicable jobs categories to non-physical work; not true for non-disabled people.  There are also a great deal of misconceptions and stereotypes about PWD that adds to this statistic.
2. “Oh, you drive too?”  Again, yes, but not true for all PWD.  Just like in everything else, each individual is different.  Having my own transportation is doable, but costly.  Adaptive equipment is very expensive to install and maintain.
3. I’ve heard people refer to me as “confined” to a wheelchair.  The truth is that the wheelchair is a freedom-giving mobility device that actually changed my life for the better!
4. People sometimes believe that someone who uses a wheelchair is “ill”.  That may or may not be true.  In my case, I’m healthier now than I was when ambulatory.  I once actually had a health care professional assume that I couldn’t be near sick people since my immune system is impaired.   That is a generality I hear often. The truth is that I haven’t had the flu in over 10 years, and I don’t get a flu shot.  The muscles in my extremities are weak.  Other than that, I’m healthy. Again, not all disabled people are “ill”.
5. Some of the most intelligent people I know are deaf or hard of hearing.  Remember that there is usually no causal relationship between the ability to communicate and brain function.  Some people also incorrectly assume mental impairment no matter what the disability.  In my case, my brain functions accelerated when I began using a wheelchair.  Prior to that time, I lived in fear.  That did limit my mental functionality!

Take the time to reflect on our commonalities rather than our differences and the world looks different.  It’s so refreshing to remove our emotional “filters” and kick away the generalities.

Remember, we are all in this together!