2008 Woodie Awards
Disabled deserve empathy, respect
Erin Waters
Issue date: 11/20/08 Section: OPINION
On a fall afternoon at North Park Center in Dallas, a hunched, old man creeps along. He leans at a 90-degree angle, his back parallel to the floor, clearly suffering from a severe physical affliction.
Behind him, two boys in Highland Park High School attire skip in his trail, pointing with no attempt to stifle laughter. They hunch their backs in mockery of the old man, who trudges forward.
I was overcome with a shared sorrow deeper than empathy, and I bubbled with anger. How could they ridicule this poor man as if somehow he'd chosen his handicap? They treated his injury as an embarrassing oversight, like a train of toilet paper stuck to his shoe.
Did they give one thought as to how hard it might be for this man to maneuver a crowd alone? Or of the painstaking chore it must be for him to dress himself every morning?
"They just don't understand," I said later, after the initial rage had subsided. I knew that these two bullies were not alone in their ignorance.
Because of a freak accident, I had to temporarily roll around in a wheelchair. It took three torn ligaments, a fractured kneecap and a paralyzed foot for me to notice all the stares and snickers associated with physical "otherness." A wheelchair might not carry as weighty a stigma as many other afflictions, but it opened my eyes to the hardships associated with disabilities.
More than a year later, my injury is less blatant than during my time in the wheelchair and then on crutches. I spent painful months in physical therapy - and out of school - working to regain range of motion in my rusty knee and to rebuild my atrophied muscles.
The accident knocked out all the ligaments in my bone's path - three of the four main ones surrounding the knee.
Nothing can describe the shock of seeing the bottom half of your leg turned the wrong direction. My peroneal nerve, which runs from the knee through the foot, was also severed. I have little feeling down the left side of my leg, and no lifting ability in my left foot.
Behind him, two boys in Highland Park High School attire skip in his trail, pointing with no attempt to stifle laughter. They hunch their backs in mockery of the old man, who trudges forward.
I was overcome with a shared sorrow deeper than empathy, and I bubbled with anger. How could they ridicule this poor man as if somehow he'd chosen his handicap? They treated his injury as an embarrassing oversight, like a train of toilet paper stuck to his shoe.
Did they give one thought as to how hard it might be for this man to maneuver a crowd alone? Or of the painstaking chore it must be for him to dress himself every morning?
"They just don't understand," I said later, after the initial rage had subsided. I knew that these two bullies were not alone in their ignorance.
Because of a freak accident, I had to temporarily roll around in a wheelchair. It took three torn ligaments, a fractured kneecap and a paralyzed foot for me to notice all the stares and snickers associated with physical "otherness." A wheelchair might not carry as weighty a stigma as many other afflictions, but it opened my eyes to the hardships associated with disabilities.
More than a year later, my injury is less blatant than during my time in the wheelchair and then on crutches. I spent painful months in physical therapy - and out of school - working to regain range of motion in my rusty knee and to rebuild my atrophied muscles.
The accident knocked out all the ligaments in my bone's path - three of the four main ones surrounding the knee.
Nothing can describe the shock of seeing the bottom half of your leg turned the wrong direction. My peroneal nerve, which runs from the knee through the foot, was also severed. I have little feeling down the left side of my leg, and no lifting ability in my left foot.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Erin Waters
posted 11/20/08 @ 3:36 PM CST
I'm glad the NT Daily decided to publish this, though I must say the life was sucked out of it in the editing room. The best parts, including my attempt to run those kids over in my wheelchair, were cut. (Continued…)
Havok
posted 11/21/08 @ 3:50 PM CST
Erin, very good article. Unfortunate that some of the 'color' parts were taken out but it still gets the point across quite well. Good job.
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