The Voice of The Voiceless Is Back

 Well, the voice of the voiceless is back. I have taken quite a long break, and during that break, I wondered if the voiceless minority still needed me or if it had learned to develop its voice. While I believe the voiceless minority has made gains on its own, it is clear that it still needs the guidance of its parent and its founder, as illustrated by a series of recent events.

Recently, I learned of an individual who was wrongfully treated as if they did not have a brain just because they were in a wheelchair. The rest of this blog is an open letter/memo to my loyal readers and anyone who might stumble across this blog. I hope it serves as a reminder or a sharp kick in the ass to remind people that you can't judge a book by its cover or a person by what you see when you first meet them.

I was initially appalled while watching what happened to this individual, but I was not surprised when I thought about it later. Even though it is 2024, and we should be more civilized than we are, we still treat an entire segment of the population as if they are second-class. In this instance, I'm not referring to civics but rather the fact that a large portion of the disability community is spoken for rather than spoken to.

I was out to lunch with one of my Personal Support Workers, whose name I won't mention because it is not necessary, recently when we were standing in line ordering food behind a fellow gimp when I heard the following exchange.

Fast food worker – "Are you a nurse?"

This was said while looking at the non-disabled person. Without thinking, the caregiver responded with the following;

Caregiver – "No, I am his caregiver."

The fast food worker responded with the stereotypical comment of "awe" as if the disabled customer was "special." I'm not passing judgment on the disabled individual, but I have to say I love the way they responded. I would have made a big scene and said, listen, honey, I'm not special, but instead, the disabled patron started speaking louder as if she was deaf as if she was the one with a disability.

Way to go! Mystery disabled dude. Although it would have been funnier if you had "accidentally" run into the counter.

The situation I described above is similar to a scenario I encounter often. When I train a new caregiver or work with someone recently hired and who doesn't know how much of a smartass I can be, they will often speak for me in public, like the caregiver mentioned above. They will even go as far as to sometimes insert themselves into my online conversations with friends or my girlfriend, which I surprisingly still have.

Both scenarios illustrate one key point that my non-disabled readers and some PSWs need to remember. Physical impairment/disability, if you like that word, does not always equate to an intellectual impairment or disability. People need to treat people as people first, but sadly, I don't believe one blog will break a habit that is so ingrained into modern society, but I can try.

Until next time.

Your Friendly Neighborhood T-Rex/ET,

Jay