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From: Stephen.White@f853.n681.z3.fidonet.org (Stephen White)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: Decade Of The Disabled
Message-ID: <9603@bunker.UUCP>
Date: 17 Jan 90 02:09:02 GMT
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Index Number: 6257

 > I am, then I accept that I'm 100% ME. I ain't no lesser
 > fraction of anything. I'm different from other people -
 > so are you, so is everyone. It would be a bit boring if
 > we were all exactly the same, wouldn't it?
 
I dont think you quite follow. I'm saying that some people think that 
their bodies are all they are; ie their disability makes them inferior. 
I disagree with this. I think that the physical component is only a 
part of the whole package, and the mental part is more significant. 
Personality, charm, intelligence, et al are all important.
 
 >  So my differences are a bit different - well, I wouldn't
 > have it any other
 > way, and if you think about it, who would want to wake
 > up every day thinking of themselves as a partial person?
 
This would seem to imply that you agree with me, in practise if not 
in principle. You are happy with yourself the way you are, and you 
dont think of yourself as inferior. When I said that the extremes of 
the deaf/blind/austic community tend to have a higher proportion of 
jerks, I was saying that these people mark themselves off as special 
or inferior. The sole deaf child in a family tends to regard himself 
as crippled, since they tend to be treated that way. This is the fault 
of the wider community, as "normal" people tend not to understand. 
By the same token, the members of radical deaf familys have marked 
themselves off as special because of their handicap. They dont think 
of it as a handicap, yet they are isolating themselves because of it. 
Thus, they do not really think of themselves as the normal average 
people, and react adversely to those normal average people that attempt 
to interact with them.
Jerk, is a term that changes with perspective, yet by all measurements, 
it is possible to avoid this label. People might not think of themselves 
as jerks, but the majority of people may. This is when I think its 
appropiate to use the term. So, if these people cannot act normally 
and pleasantly then jerks they are.
 
 >
 > On some deaf people being jerks - well. Some blind people
 > are real pigs - not because they are blind, but because
 > they are pigs. Being different (blind, deaf, physially
 
Here, I sense the inference that you think I am blind (physically, 
not morally). The truth is that I am also deaf, almost totally, from 
birth. I dont dispute that there are wankers everywhere, but I still 
insist that there is a higher proportion of jerks in the respective 
handicapped communities. Consider it from this viewpoint. Quite a lot 
of people are not mature enough to stand up for themselves, or feel 
confident in themselves. If they are physically perfect, then other 
people will provide the emotional props. In the handicapped, these 
props are missing, thus they are forced to rely on theirselves. Result? 
This is also why I think that the jerks are confined to the extremes, 
and usually grow out of it as they gain in maturity. The mainstream 
are alright, as they have their emotional props in their peers, and 
family.
 
Steve!
   The Child of a Lesser God!

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