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| Reply To: | St. John's University Cerebral Palsy List |
| Date: | Tue, 23 May 2000 14:26:03 PDT |
| Content-Type: | text/plain |
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Hi Betty,
I want to say first that I am always impressed with the quality of your
posts. Thank you.
>Yes - the "before time" refers to my predisabilty days. I know I'm >kind
>of the lone ranger on this listserv, since you all have had CP >all of your
>lives. But still, I feel at home here. Maybe part of it >is that I
I'm glad you do. In my years on this list I've found this crazy bunch to be
open and inviting.
>My concern is with day to day encounters with nondisabled people. >When I
>meet people and we start chatting, I always try to find a way >to work in a
>little bit about disability awareness -- just a little
MiGod! Would not all those mental gymnastics make you a bit nuts? I know
it would to me. In my humble opinion, it may create an appearance of
militantcy and fixation. Such things can make AB's run screaming. We as
disabled best not remind them of two things:
1. It could someday be them that must live with a disability, and
2. By our very being we inspire guilt in AB's because they know that the
well meaning condescendance is just another form of prejudice.
In my experience, the best way to educate people is just to be. I almost
never discuss my disability with anyone. Many AB friends have told me that
I was the first disabled friend they had. Than I say, "Ok. What have you
learned? The trick is to have people know you not your disability, and in
time they will ask you questions.
"Can I ask you a question? I don't want to offend you or make you mad, or
anything...."
I know they are trying to ask about me and my cp...
"Listen my friend...Chances are that I've answered your question many times
in my life. I'm not bothered at all. In fact, I encourage you to ask. I'll
talk about anything you like. It's ok. If you really want a lively chat,
ask me an original question. That would be a treat for me."
Please forgive my spelling
That is my approach. It works pretty well.
Peace,
Vince
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<a href="http://vincemontgomery.cjb.net">Vince's website </a>
<BR>updated May 2000.</HTML>
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