Friday, April 13, 2012

How to change the world

Masked Woman in a Wheelchair - Diane Arbus

Remember that talking with a disabled person is not an heroic act. There is absolutely nothing required in the way of superhuman patience to communicate with a person with a disability, and stopping to listen to someone with atypical communication, far from being a charitable act, is an act of bringing a fellow human being into human community. Social inclusion and interaction, when someone desires them, are basic human rights that no disabled person should have to request, and that no able-bodied person with an ounce of ethical understanding should refuse.


Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg, via NeuroTribes

10 comments:

  1. Isn't it amazing how completely and utterly obvious this is? And yet- we need to be reminded.

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  2. Amen. I would expand that to not just disabled persons, but people who are vastly different than us in myriad ways.

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  3. Powerful!
    With your permission, I'd like to post it it on Facebook.

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  4. You give us such simple clarity in places that look so daunting to the uneducated eye.

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  5. I'd settle for a simple smile and touch for my son....

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  6. Such an important thing to teach our kids!

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  7. might have to steal that excerpt! amazing.

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  8. Mine you can't tell until she talks. She looks... normal. I think sometimes people feel they've been tricked.

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