Trisha Cummings <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>
>     Yes, it was already pointed to me privately- that I can't
> really understand becasue even tho I am disabled and Amber has
> CP - I don't have CP - therefore I am can't truly understand
> becasue I am not a personal member of  club CP.  What I have
> found thru reading the the posts - pain is pain - your pain
> about not being accepted and being different is doesn't feel
> any different than mine. Ever since I was born - I have been
> different for one reason or another - beginning with being born
> an illegimate child - exclusion doesn't feel any different  and
> it should teach you - it hurts to be excluded and not to in
> turn be that petty to someone else. This part of the lesson
> seems to sail over most folks heads. My impulse was to say take
> a flying leap - that however somone elses smallness should not
> color my giving someone help nor getting it for Amber.

I do not see CP as a club. This list is not even a club in that
"clubs" tend to attract similar minded people, and even a cursory
perusal of recent posts show that there is quite broad diversity
here.

I have seen much pain from people who say they are not "accepted"
now I understand that pain, but the way to negate that pain is to
realise that you won't be accepted by everyone you meet, you do
not "need" to be accepted by everyone you meet, you only have to
accept yourself.

Now there are situations where not being accepted can truly be
injurious to you, such as employment opportunities, and in these
situations it can really hurt. The primary consideration for an
employer when considering applicants for a post, is the potential
effectiveness of that applicant. If you can convince the employer
that, with adaptions, you are the applicant who can perform the
job most effectively (out of all the applicants), then you will
find yourself accepted. This is true for all job seekers, not
just the disabled.

My family come from a long line of Coal Miners and Teachers,
(that's right, the ones who couldn't mine - taught!!), neither of
which occupations would have suited me. I certainly have the
qualifications to teach, and with the right adaptations, I could
teach, but would I be an "effective" teacher - NO, not compared
to a similarly qualified non-disabled person. My
dull/slow/monotonic voice would soon have the class losing
interest and looking at the point of spittle about to drop off my
chin, rather than the point of my arguments!!

If the person treating you as mentally retarded is not in a
position of authority over you, then it can be mildly annoying,
but not pain, and at best can be a source for considerable mirth.
By not doing the therapeutic riding anymore, Anee is losing out
on the benefits, and the foolish instructor hasn't the
opportunity to learn better.

Sorry, Trish, only the first paragraph was aimed at your post
above, the rest sort of materialised out of the ether in response
to various current threads.

--
Deri James