Question: Are disabled people not actually disabled but just "differently

abled"?

I have never seen a job position posted requesting that only differently-abledpersons need
apply. Nor have I found any agency sell differently-abled insurance policies.

I have witnessed perfectly able, qualified individuals being passed over simply because they
cannot walk, hear, talk, or see. The way I get to my bathroom is far different than the way I
learned 58 years ago, is that some super-power I have gained because I lost the ability to
walk, no, it’s called “crawling.” Are the skills I developed to work around my disability
something that nobody else can do. Nope, it’s called “coping” or “adapting” to my condition
or situation. I can write words forwards and backwards at the same time, mirror image, on a
blackboard or sheet of paper using both hands and I can tie my shoes with one hand. I can
recall the exact page numbers of a text book where something was written when using it in
an argument or as an example. I taught myself to do these things for the explicit purpose of
being differently-abled. People who cannot do those types of things are not considered
disabled, they have only been taught and learned how to write forwards, in other words they
are “normal” or “average” and just don’t have the same motivation as I had to learn how to
do some fantastic trick. Could they do it, probably, with practice. But there is no amount of
practice that can make it so I will be able to sit up and do the same thing I could do before I
got hurt.

What does changing the phrase “disabled” to “differently-abled” do to enhance the life of
one who cannot shower themselves or cannot walk to the bathroom, or that lies curled in
the fetal position 98% of their time suffering excruciating pain. I am pretty good at
distracting myself from focusing on the pain I suffer and not allowing it to destroy the
pleasure of something that may look pretty, sound nice, taste good, or feel good, only to
keep myself from going stark raving mad from the long-term effects of my burning, searing,
twisting, and stabbing pain that never goes away. I am not differently-abled, I am unable to
do the same things that people can generally do which are often taken for granted and
accepted as “normal” or “average” in other works, disabled. There is no extra ability I gain
or additional skill I have been awarded or granted from not being able to sit up any longer. I
am disabled, I cannot do what the average Joe can and my condition does not allow me to
do the same things that most average people are able to do. I’ve had to give up doing
normal, everyday things because of the enormous problems that present when or if I try to
do those “average” things, like sitting up or allowing a slight breeze to touch my skin. Things
that just about anyone alive has the ability to do are off-limits to me now. Consider this, is
wearing sleeves is a “different” ability? The act of raising or even uncovering my arms is a
disability—my condition interferes with the ability to do “normal” or “average” things in the
same way that we all have become accustomed to doing throughout our life, try taking a
bath when the air or water touches you and causes sharp, burning, intolerable, searing pain
spreading througout by body that causes me to vomit several times and can last for days to
weeks and has a very good likelihood of never going away. How is that being differently-
abled? That sounds more like an inability or disability or even exaggerated cruel and
unusual punishment for surviving my accident. The ability that is different for me, is to
remain ever mindful and restrain myself from attacking anyone who speaks to me when I
am doing my level best just to get through and gracefully tolerate the excruciating pain I live
with constantly, don’t ask me or expect me to give you a level-headed opinion or to do a
chore while it is taking every ounce of my self-discipline just to deal with the pain in a
socially acceptable fashion. Not a good time to make your request. The pain I live with either
gets worse or lessens throughout the day much like the tide with the moon. Just my
emotional state can cause severe complications. Is it differently-abled to cope with the pain
that has caused me to have to give up every thing I was once able to do, walking, sleeping,
laughing, playing with my kids, going to my kids graduations, or wedding, are those thing
you consider an ability, do you really think you can call not being able to do those things any
longer, a different-ability, for real? I am glad that others can do those things because I
would never wish for anyone, even those I dislike, to have to endure the every day events
that lock me into the fetal position sometimes for weeks, totally covered but for my face,
maintaining the temperature at all times between 59–62 degrees despite the season. I
cannot go and fiddle with my flower garden ever again without a miracle, I cannot read a
book without having to drop it several times every hour to re-position and then steel myself
to continue reading despite how I feel. What is the physical cost for the average person to
read a book or watch a complete movie in one sitting—for real, is there a generally accepted
physical cost for doing things that most people simply take for granted?

From my position, those are the people who are differently-abled, they can do many things I
cannot even force myself on a good day to do no matter how much I may want to. I prefer
being referred to as disabled and not have my limitations and problems made to appear less
significant or not as limiting and challenging by using pretty language. Not having the same
choices that any non-disabled person has to get up and go to work, have a family, go out to a
restaurant, take a vacation, picking up your child, etc. is certainly not made easier or
suddenly made possible by re-terming it differently-abled. Renaming disability is only one
way frequently used to shove or mask the severity of the condition or problem and made
much more palatable for able-bodied persons to treat someone’s disability as unimportant
or easier to dismiss and it lays much easier on one’s conscience especially when mistreating
the disabled.

The problem is able-bodied people that try to impose unwarranted limitations on those that
are disabled so they are doubted about all of their abilities. That is where differently-
abled comes into play, as the disabled persons defense. If someone cannot walk it does not
mean they cannot think. Look at it sincerely and honestly, how many times is a person in a
wheelchair not addressed directly but instead the question is directed to the person or
people that accompany them. Spend some time people watching, it is very common. Is it a
correct assumption to think that because our legs or arms, eyes or ears, don’t work the same
as the average persons somehow that affects our ability to think or carry on a conversation—
that is the popular general assumption among the majority of able-bodied people. In that
circumstance, someone that is disabled or acting as representative of the disabled, is
allowed to pose the differently-abled-defense, despite the wheelchair, the white cane, or
the sign language, they can still function at the same intellectual or emotional level that a
walking, hearing, seeing person can. I often find that when someone from the able-bodied
population refers to a disabled person as differently-abled it is most often being used to
dismiss or exploit the severity of the disabled persons limitations. When you are referring to
yourself, is the only time it is acceptable to use and if it helps you manage, then go for it. If
you want to show respect for a disabled person regarding their physical characteristics, ask
them how you should phrase it and let them decide. I usually prefer my name, but to each
their own