For several years, I have had several "hidden disabilities" that severely limit my activities. There are more occasions than I care to remember when people have been quite rude to me because they cannot see anything apparently wrong. For this reason, I am writing a brief message containing some information that may be useful if you are ever in this position or have a cub in this position.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 protects the rights of persons with handicaps in program and activities that receive Federal financial assistance. Section 504 protects the rights not only of individuals with visible disabilities but also those with disabilities thast may not be apparent.
Hidden disabilities are defined as physical or mental impairments that are not readily apparent to others.
Unfortunately, we, the public, will see someone in a wheel chair and immediately feel compassion while viewing someone with a neurological disability with frustration since we cannot visually see their condition but rather the results of that condition in how they act.
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Children sometimes think they know all there is to know about something when the truth is that limited vision has revealed limited knowledge and they assume that is all there is.
Seems we adults are not much different. Judging others based on what we see with our eyes.
The concept behind "hidden" involves people judging based on what is visible.
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.
So you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
So maybe since it seems to be a common weakness in man to judge outwardly...It seems like people with hidden disabilities then face 3 related challenges...
1. the disability itself
2. the work of compassionately forgiving those rude stares understanding their vision to be like a child with limited wisdom.
3. the task of not judging themselves as in anyway lesser because of a disability.
When I think about "what other people think" I think of "Dip your finger in the ocean and when you pull it out that hole that remains is how much you will be missed" I heard something like that in a movie and also read it in a book, so its a thought many have had/heard. And while there will most likely be people miss us...eventually they too will be gone and then, there is no "hole" in the water. But the "uh-duh" part of that is...obviously that isn't what we were designed & created for.
So don't you worry about their dumb looks...Those "in the know" won't be judging, they'd be assisting.
Thanks for the post, something we need to work on if we are to be progressing in becoming more compassionate people in this life.
I've been thinking about this (always a bad sign); where I get stuck is with my own definition of a "disability."
I was a little surprised to discover that the traits I find most admirable in the human race hinges around this concept.
The people I tend to admire the most, that inspire me the most, are those that refuse to let their conditions define them.
This doesn't mean they ignore or trivialize them, but they tend not to adopt them as any sort of cornerstone, or even a particularly relevant factor, in their identity or essence. Often they even find ways to use what other people see (or don't see) as disabilities as their own assets for deeply personal growth and discovery.
Conversely, the people I see as the most "disabled" are those whose lifes are merely a reflection of their circumstances, without any independence of spirit, without any reflectin of circumstances and conditions as things that reveal their character, not define it.
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