The Minority We Will All Be Part Of

Photo by Julius Carmine on Unsplash

You’re born Black or Asian or queer. But all of us will spend some part of our lives disabled…hopefully. Because the alternative is dying young…

All of us. When I did the paperwork for my hand therapy, it included a “Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand’ questionnaire. Most people would not argue that a simple fracture counts. I currently only have limited use of my dominant hand. Thankfully, it’s short term. But I still can’t type at my normal speed. I can’t do some tasks that require fine dexterity in both hands like, say, opening a wrapped piece of candy. Try it! I am having to leave my medications partially open because childproof containers…

We have a view of disability that separates out the life long disabled from those of us experiencing temporary disability and the elderly. But the fact is that somebody who is in a wheelchair for two months needs the curb cuts just as much.

Temporary Disability is Real

When I was about 9, I suffered from something called Osgood-Schlatter Disease. This is an inflammation of the the growth plate in the knee that affects children and adolescents. It’s caused by lots of knee bending and may also result from the bone growing a bit faster than the tendons.