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 Weight2006 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

Never Give Up COLT WYNN:

Disability TwoBlind:

• 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

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>