Would this type of thing happen if I wasn’t disabled?
I have cerebral palsy and my right leg is about an inch shorter than my left leg, with the difference in my thigh. I’ve always known about one leg being shorter than the other, but didn’t know I have cerebral palsy until February 2006 when I happened to see my diagnosis. Having one leg longer than the other on top of the cerebral palsy causes difficulties in walking. I can walk, but I have a bit of a limp and wear specially-made insoles designed to help me walk.
One day in senior year, I was in Child Development and my teacher had me come up and talk about birth defects. I was up at the front of the room for only a few moments before I gave up. The other kids were determined to talk over me, and just wouldn’t listen. So I sat back down. Unfortunately, the teacher didn’t make any attempt to quiet the students, which upset me more. There was one girl in particular who made it clear she thought me to be garbage because of my having cerebral palsy.
I haven’t made too much of an attempt at keeping in contact with my high school friends. I have them as friends on my Facebook page, but I don’t make attempts to meet up with them. I did that once and it ended in disaster. The girl said she would call me to decide on a plan, but she never called me. I sat around all day waiting for her to call me, only to log onto Facebook later that evening to find a wall post from another friend telling her to have fun with her cousins.
Would this type of thing happen if I wasn’t disabled? I don’t know. I wish I didn’t have to deal with it.
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I do agree with the above comment that people are disrespectful anyway, and am hoping that is the reason for the girls acting like that.
As for your disability, I think there are SOME people who have little to no exposure to any disabilities which creates fear. They are scared of what they don’t understand or know. Don’t be afraid to share information about C.P with anyone. (I haven’t read more of your entries, but felt the need to comment bc you sounded so hurt) Look at these issues as a learning opportunity to be proud of who you are and what you have/can/will accomplish.
It’s not clear in this situation whether it’s because of your disability or not. I’ve had things like this happen to me and I have no sign of a disability. It could have been that the people in your class were highly disrespectful as people of that age tend to be, and didn’t think of what you would be feeling. You may not want to think of it as it’s because of your disability, because with those thoughts could come a whole new level of thinking to the point that you think everything has to do with your disability. Just think of it as something small, and let it go. Some people are jerks and are always going to be jerks but you cannot let it get you down.
People are assholes but a lot of times they are even worse to individuals with disabilities. Then they get mad at us when we are open about the negative social consequences of our disabilities.
In this situation I’m not sure if it was your disability or not–there are so many factors that come into play in daily situations and–the disability may have been a small negative thing that tipped the situation in your disfavor but it may not have.
It probably has nothing to do with your disability and you’d be doing yourself a favor to realize that.