Lauded Up the Wrong Tree

     A few years ago, a video was posted to Facebook that was supposed to be really inspirational and motivational. In fact, here it is:
Quadriplegic Motivational Speaker

       My reaction to it was not positive.  I didn't think it was that bad, but it actually got me blocked on Facebook (by someone I knew in high school and grade school, but don't miss in the least.)  Most of all, my response to it was honest, and I feel a thing that needed to be said.

       As it happens, any time I write something that I feel is important, I have a tendency to paste it to a document and save it somewhere on my computer.  As a result of a recent hard drive crash,  I was reviewing the data on the replacement drive to make sure everything was there, and ran across the document with this in it.  I present it now for your judgment (because I'm sure someone will judge it.)  Seems that the opening sentence was a tad prescient:


 This will not make me popular (though I never have worried much about that), but in many respects this guy has it easy. Yes, he has no arms or legs. And people look at him and see a cripple.

I want you to consider something, though. There are people out there JUST as disabled as he is, but you can't SEE their disabilities. They have all their arms and legs, but because of brain damage they can't function the same way that everyone else does. And because they don't look different, and they don't slur words, and they're smart and eloquent, people don't BELIEVE they can't do these things.

Sure, it's easy to say, "Yes, but he has arms and legs!" when, in reality he can't read a book without help, he can't fill out a job application, he can't fill out papers to get the disability benefits that the Americans With Disabilities Act claims he's entitled to, and he can't get help with those things from the agencies that are supposed to provide them BECAUSE THEY DON'T BELIEVE IT because they can't see it. And because he's smarter than most people you'll ever meet.

Imagine the frustration of being brilliant, of having ideas, concepts, and the need to share them....and not being able to write. Or type. Or read, because the words change. Sure, you can comprehend anything you read, if you read it correctly. Oh, yeah, college is a breeze......while they're sticking you in the "learning disabled" department, which means that they'll give you extra time to take your tests in a room with thin walls and no door while they chat loudly on the other side of the wall. Then, when they grade your paper, the algebra teacher takes off points because you couldn't spell your name right....and SHE was on the other side of that wall, yakking away so loudly that you couldn't concentrate.

It's easy for this guy to look on the positive side. People can SEE that he's different. They can see that he is, in their eyes, disabled, crippled. So some may gape at him, and some may make fun of him. But at least they know, they admit, that there's something wrong.

Where does all this come from? My best friend of the past 24 years. He's been through ALL of those things I named, and more. And my son is going through much of the same, but with less severe problems.

In comparison, this guy who has less than a whole body but an undamaged mind has had everything handed to him on a silver platter. Because his damage is visible.

Think on that a bit, and THEN look at yourself.