PINK SMOOTHIE'S THOUGHTS

Let's Puts Ourselves in Their Place

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I thought that y’all need to tackle an important subject… Let’s Respect People with Disabilities!

I was in a wheelchair for 4 months (almost 5, because my broken leg wasn’t entirely ready for crutches), so I definitely know how people that can’t walk feel.  Persons in the sidewalks looked at me like I was a person carrying some type of disease, and that’s how people that have to be in a wheelchair almost half—or all—their lives feel.

They feel singled out.  They feel like they want to crawl into a hole and never leave it in fear that they’re going to be laughed at or bullied.  They feel like they want to be like everybody, be accepted.

But, since people these days think they’re oh-so-cool and – whenever they see someone that isn’t like them, they single the person out and make fun of him or her.

Apart from people in wheelchairs, there are people that can’t see, can’t hear, don’t have a leg, or their facial features are just deformed.  And many people do that to them too.

I want you to be in that person’s place.  I want you to imagine how your life would be if you were judged everyday.  I want you to imagine that you’re never going to walk again, or had an accident and never be like you were.   I want you to imagine being like this person that you ignore when you see on the street.

How does that image in your head affect you, huh?

Do you feel like you want to crawl into a hole and never come back?

Do you feel like you want to like everyone?

Apart from that, have you noticed that little people are also judged? 

Not as much as before, but they usually do get strange looks if they’re out at the mall or grocery shopping.

Since I was a kid I was taught that people with disabilities are the same as all of us, and I became obsessed with Little People Big World (which is streamed through TLC).  I’ve seen how Amy and Matt Roloff made their family live a life like anybody and have taught to all many important things.

They can do everything.  They can live their lives as anyone, have a family, and do whatever they want to do, because they’re just like us.
Human beings.

I want you to be on their place, once more.

Imagine you walk inside the local grocery store and grab a basket and start your shopping.  Then, you see an “average” people looking at you like you were a plague.

How would you react?

Would you want to cry?

Would you like to stand up for yourself?

Put yourself in that scenario and according to the points below, tell me what you would do:

a.  Ask the people what they’re staring at. If you’re in a wheelchair, then you would wheel towards them and ask what’s their problem.  If you’re a little person, then you would tell them that just because they’re taller doesn’t mean that you cannot do the same things they do.

b.  You would stay silent and tell the store’s manager that the people are judging you, and that because of the country’s laws, it is called discrimination.  You would wheel towards the manager if on a wheelchair and the ask them why people are staring at you.  If you’re a little person, then you would probably tell the manager that just because your height isn’t the same, people are staring at you because you’re small.

c.  You would do nothing.

​d.  None of the above.

And if you are watching from behind, would you protect the person? Would you defend him/her?

Take Auggie Pullman from Wonder. He had a craniofacial disease that made people think that he was a monster—a miracle.  Nobody would even dare to look at him because of the disease – and he was a really nice and cute person to get to know.

Don’t think people who have some type of disability are all horrible.  They can be nice if you get to know them—just like a book.

Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.

When I was baby, my parents took me to a place where babies learn to crawl.  What’s so special about it?  Well, babies with disabilities went there to learn to crawl, and my parents made me accept them as normal people, and we became friends.

​I grew up thinking and believing that every single person with disabilities is just the same as us.

Just because they don’t look like everybody, doesn’t mean that their hearts aren’t or have great intentions.

Please don’t be like other people and want to exclude them out.

If you see someone that carries some type of disability at your school, then talk to them.  I think I forgot to mention this, but I knew a girl that couldn’t see a few years back at school.  I knew that some people stared at her like she was weird, but in reality, she seemed like a nice person.

Luckily, she couldn’t see them pointing at her, but she could hear them.

That made me realize that people in this world do think that appearances are everything, while they actually are not.

How kind they are, how they treat you, how they behave around you, is what matters. Look at how their heart is, and then you’ll see how pure their souls are.

Why are they so pure?

Because they grew up in a way people don’t even imagine.  They’re like people that have no bad intentions with others, because they just want to be good friends with us.

We have to top ignoring people that aren’t “average”.  Because, in reality, we’re all the same.

Just because some of us can’t do things others can, doesn’t mean we have to ignore them and pretend they don’t exist.

We’re ALL the same.

Now, people with disabilities are included in activities with regular people.  The problem is, that people do not have empathy with them. 

We’re the ones that actually have a disability.

It seems that we just don’t want to be friends with them.

I hope that all of you learned something really valuable today.

​Until next time!

​©2018
Pink Smoothie! 

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