by slinky_malinki » Sat May 21, 2005 8:54 pm
According to the Disability Discrimination Act, a person with a disability is someone who has 'a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.' By that definition, I am disabled. My dyspraxia is so severe that I once lay down on the floor to avoid being crushed by some funfair rockets that were whirling in the air above me. I was petrified; I thought they were going to slice off my head. In actual fact, they were about ten metres above me. That happened when I was eleven or twelve. The world is full of dangerous perceptual distortions. It is very difficult for me to go outside alone, for fear of encountering one of these nightmarish optical illusions.
The word 'disability' itself does not carry a stigma. Prejudice isn't locked in language - it is spawned by people's minds. I am not ashamed to be disabled, and I think that society should be educated about hidden handicaps so that everyone can understand that a condition like dyspraxia (even severe dyspraxia) isn't a life sentence. It can even be a gift. I highly doubt whether my verbal skills would be as sharp as they are if it weren't for dyspraxia.
If I were given the opportunity to become 'normal', I wouldn't take it. I am comfortable with who I am, and I don't see myself as being particularly disadvantaged. Everyone has their difficulties. Mine just happen to have a name, dyspraxia, and that puts me way ahead of most other people out there! All the same, I can't pretend that I don't have huge difficulties with the most basic of tasks. This morning, for example, I took a shower, got dressed, and read a book. Once I had finished reading, I dreamily wandered into the bathroom to take my morning shower. I got into the shower cubicle fully clothed, and was halfway through shampooing my hair when a sense of deja vu washed over me...
Things like this happen every day. Occasionally I do enjoy a good luxurious wallow in self-pity, but most of the time I am optimistically practical.