People are uncomfortable about disability, and so interactions can become unintentionally uncomfortable.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
We often hear that people mean well: that so many just don't how to interact with people with disabilities. They're unsure of the 'right' reaction, so they default to condescension that makes them feel better in the face of their discomfort.
For me, disability is a way of getting some extremity, some kind of very difficult situation, that throws an interesting light on people.
The mere suggestion that not speaking for a day can give you an appreciation of the social isolation that comes with the experience of disability, particularly those whose impairments prohibit them from communicating verbally, is insensitive at best.
Disability doesn't make you exceptional, but questioning what you think you know about it does.
I'm definitely more understanding of people who have disabilities and who are suffering.
Disability is a matter of perception. If you can do just one thing well, you're needed by someone.
People presume my disability has to do with being an amputee, but that's not the case; our insecurities are our disabilities, and I struggle with those as does everyone.
The world worries about disability more than disabled people do.
We think we know what it's all about; we think that disability is a really simple thing, and we don't expect to see disabled people in our daily lives.
I still find it strange, I suppose, when I say to someone, 'Can you just pass me my leg?' But I don't ever think about my disability.