Disabilities

ClicMerril and I watched the movie “The Shape of Water” (spoiler alert).  As a movie we both gave it 3/5.  It was entertaining and the plot kept us absorbed, but it was nothing to write home about.
If it was, I would be writing a letter to myself and going down and putting it in my letter box.  Then when I got the mail it would be like “oh, what’s this?” while I ripped the letter open.
Anyway, I thought the movie contained an interesting concept.  The female lead was deaf.  She cleaned in a centre that took delivery of an aquatic creature everyone was supposed to stay away from.  The guy that captured it was a baddy, and treated the creature inhumanely.  His plans were beholden to the military and he was to kill it, and study it.  He did not take the time to get to know it was a caring creature.  The female lead cleaned the centre and got to know that it cared.  She rescued it, and they lived happily ever after.
What I thought was good was the creature got to know her with her disability and to him that was normal.  She was used to being treated as somehow inferior, because of her condition.  She was not of course, and loved and felt the same as any of us.
I found that interesting because that is the way things are.  I don’t know anyone that choses to be disabled in any way, but it happens.  Yet it is often the case (notwithstanding the abuse and neglect the disabled are susceptible to) statistics reflect those of the general population.
QUT Gardens Point had some very old buildings.  They did not contain lifts.  I often wondered how someone who could not walk, was supposed to get to the third floor.  When I left QUT that had changed.  Every building I knew of, had a lift.  It meant a potentially brilliant person had access.
Someone may not be able to walk, or talk, or see, or have balance issues, yet what they have to offer is often something we all need and can use.  It may seem a big jump, but it is why I have a problem with clearing forest without first seeing what is there.  There may be a cure for cancer, or the means of solving a major human problem.  The thing is we will never know if we do not look.  Once something is gone it is gone.
Stephen Hawkins is to me a great example.  That man’s body was a write off.  Yet he was brilliant.   If we had not taken the time to look and care, we would have missed out big time.  Caring meant we needed to invent ways to accommodate his needs, but it was worth inventing stuff.  To me, all human beings are worth it.  They may not be likable or brilliant, but potentially all humans have something to contribute, and I am not the judge, jury and executioner.
Accommodating needs can be messy.  Often it is easier not to care or take the time needed.  But people with disabilities should not be written off.  Often times they contain answers to problems we all encounter.  We will never know though, without first looking.k here to edit.