Do we patronize disabilities to make ourselves feel better about ourselves.

[kvnchrist]

Is our natural feelings of wanting to help those who are less able to function because of disabilities actually helping those we wish to help or are we just patting ourselves on our backs for caring not about the person, but about that person having a disability. Are we disrespecting that person as a human being not because of what they can do but because what they have difficulty doing.

This is not like us making alternations in our world to accommodate them according to their abilities, but to diminish them to being an inspiration to non disabled people because they happen to be able to do with their disabilities. Are we objectifying them as disable instead of accepting them as the person within the body they are contained in?

Listen to this and you will better understand what I am blithering incoherently about.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxrS7-I_sMQ

[HeyYou]

I AM disabled..... (I have multiple sclerosis..... not in a wheel chair yet, but, that day is coming....) I help anyone that looks like they may need it. I'll offer, and if they accept, all well and good, if they decline, well that's fine too. That doesn't apply just to people with disabilities though, that applies to anyone, young, old, rich, poor, color scheme is not relevant either.

 

Oddly enough, I rather enjoy the feeling I get when I help someone, and they smile, and say "Thank You." That's really all I need. :D

[JimboUK]

Some people do some people don't, my father was disabled and I learned to back off unless asked, let the person decide if they need help, don't decide for them.

[kvnchrist]

Helping out others is not the subject of the thread. It is about looking at the disabled and using their ability to do what they can do as an inspiration. The idea that you would need to look at others who are less fortunate then you to raise you spirits about your own situation is not to see them as people , but objects to gain inspiration from. It's like they were your own personal motivation speaker.

 

You are looking at them not because of who they are, but what they are in your own mind.

[gandalftw]

Helping out others is not the subject of the thread. It is about looking at the disabled and using their ability to do what they can do as an inspiration. The idea that you would need to look at others who are less fortunate then you to raise you spirits about your own situation is not to see them as people , but objects to gain inspiration from. It's like they were your own personal motivation speaker.

 

You are looking at them not because of who they are, but what they are in your own mind.

No.I knew a man that contracted polio in the late 50's at the age of twenty and became a paraplegic.He owned a farm and as soon as he came home from the hospital he started,against doctors orders, crawling into his field on his stomach dragging starter plants and manure tied to his feet and slowly but surely planted a garden.He had no use of his legs and very little use of his arms but the first summer he was home he shared his fall harvest with friends and family.This man continued this behavior until he died at the age of 80.

 

He,during a bout with depression, shared with me the embarrassment he felt due to his disabilities and said that he thought everyone would have been better off had he died.I listened to him in silence until i felt he had nothing more to say and i said to him,you are one of the most amazing people i have ever known.I don't know what my opinion means to you but please understand that i will never forget you and i see you as being stronger than any man i have ever met.

Edited March 7, 2015 by gandalftw