Seeing an Imperfect Person Perfectly by: Crystal Lee Voye

Did you know that despite our disabilities, we work hard to be successful but in our hearts we are in deep despair because we are judged and mocked by people who are considered “normal.” If you just take the time to get to know us and not focus on our flaws you would see that we are actually pretty cool. 

Today I’d like to define disability, identify common disabilities and persuade you to empathize the person, not their disability.

Imperfections/disabilities: Paraplegia (wheelchair-user) Blind/visually impaired Deaf/hard of hearing delayed development of motor skills, such as reaching, sitting, rolling, crawling, walking/muscular impairment/speech or learning difficulties

Disability One Paraplegia: Statistics show there's about 2 million people who are in wheelchairs (1 in every 200 people) Why don’t we ever see them? Accessibly Culture According to The unabridged dictionary defines disability as a “defect, disadvantage, inability, and weakness.” Its antonym is strength. So basically what the dictionary is telling us is that if we are handicapped in some way we are weak and incapable? I’d like to tell you of Colt Wynn. Since I also have a limp and have been called “Crippled" which implies someone who is pitiful and unable to do anything he inspires me. He was a hunter with a dream of being a body builder. He fell from a hunters tree stand and broke his back. People called him crippled, looked down on him but he didn’t give up. In his hospital bed he requested weights and lifted with a broken back. YMCA struggle. 4 years later 2007 Wheelchair Nationals - NPC, 1st - Middle Weight 2006 Wheelchair Nationals - NPC, Overall Winner & 1st - Light-Heavy Weight 2004 Wheelchair Nationals - NPC, 1st - Middle Weight - Open 2003 Wheelchair Nationals - NPC, Overall Winner & 1st - Middle Weight Disability One Paraplegia:

Never Give Up COLT WYNN:

Disability Two Blind: There are 10 million blind and visually impaired people in the United States according to The American Foundation of the blind. Approximately 93,600 visually impaired or blind students, 10,800 of whom are deaf-blind, are served in the special education program. 7,000 Americans use dog guides 109,000 use long canes to get around 5,500 blind children use Braille Called unfortunate which implies unlucky or unsuccessful

Disability Three Deaf: Deaf/hard of hearing Me and my classmates Note-takers, interpreters Reserved because of way we are looked at (mute)

Disability Not crippled; strong but unable to walk Not unfortunate; successful just unable to see Not mute; just unable to hear and causes us to have abnormal speaking Not deformed; just muscle impaired 4: YOU CAN EXPLAIN D2 AND D4 TOGETHER OR EXPLAIN D2 30 SEC AND D4 30 SEC

Disability four Delayed Development: Abnormal posture/shape Bones grow wrong--too little or too much.

I hope that I have increased your awareness of how we feel and the disabilities we have. We can’t help that we are different, please don’t judge us. If the whole world was the same it’d be boring right? Get to know us, know me. Many of us are ashamed of our handicap, scared to approach you. Why don’t you try to break the ice? Reassure us that you see past our imperfections and you want to know the cool people that we are.

Bibliography: Title- http://thinkexist.com/quotation/love_isn-t_finding_a_perfect_person-it-s_seeing/250955.html No Matter What- Weinberg, George. “Had I no eyes” Venus and Adonis 1991 page http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/promo/people.htm Department of Health http://hubpages.com/hub/Wheelchair http://www.scope.org.uk/ diabled trying to “achieve equality” http://www.disabilitynow.org.uk/index.htm “should assisted dying be legalized” Dec. 2005 McGough, Peter. “A Wynn-win situation” MUSCLE & FITNESS 1 Nov. 2006 Volume 67 # 11 <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0801/is_11_67/ai_n16808019> Kipfer, Barbara. Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1). Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. 2007 "disability." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 05 Jun. 2007. <Dictionary.com> http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/disability>. “Language Speaks Loudly!” The Social Work Program at Metropolitan State College of Denver. 2004. <http://www.developmentaldisability.org/Hand%20Outs.htm>