Differently Abled

A while ago, rather a long long time ago i came across a post where a person with severe disability posted about his/her professional skills and if someone has work for him/her. The article garnered lot of traction and comments and there was indeed a few which stated that “you could have simply mentioned your professional skills without mentioning your disability to get work”

I read that comment, and somehow i pondered over it. Was it right of the person to talk about the disability along with professional skill set and ask for work, did that make him/her appear weak and others insecure? Is it okay to be disabled, suffer all the “unfairness” alone and still act fair, or is it okay to embrace your disability, express it and let others also embrace you as a whole.

Life of a differently abled person is not fair, nor its fair to be in a minority. Ask those who are living this life, and still trying hard to function and appear as normal as could be, fighting every single day for a space in a world which appears to be all abled and perfect. After all Darwin, left us all saying that surrvival is of the fittest. The question is, does having a significant amount of emotional quotient a criteria to being fit or unfit?

I spent 6 months with an ankle fracture, and it was only during that time i felt that why aren’t places wheel chair accessible, or how difficult it is to live with an amputation, or without a complete organ. I now live with a disorder which can’t be seen and i only feel it, and i have accepted that this is how my life is going to be, i can only change it and make it better. But i express it, maybe my expression will make you insecure, and make me appear weak.

But once in a while in my inbox i get an email saying that my expression helped them too. I feel well the act justified then. Or once in a while i come across other people’s post talking about their insecurities, trauma and embrace it, and i wonder and my respect for them increases manifold. This wasn’t earlier me. It took multiple suicide attempts for me to develop an iota of emotional quotient which i won’t judge others of anymore because i have long time stopped doing it.

But then one can self judge, that the next time you come across someone talking about their insecurities or disability be compassionate. Don’t patronize them. Life has been unfair already but well who said it was fair even to the fittest. But on a much larger scale bigger than you and bigger than me, we may realize someone actually suffered way too much, and may be its okay to help them, provide them with the “accessibility” tools to then survive.

For you it may be just a day, for someone else it maybe the day which will end with them.