Inspired by my best friend Jeffrey G, who told me to write about Change.
Our world is changing everyday. You’ve heard of stem cell research and other therapies that cure aliments, diseases, disorders…
But what do they all mean? Will they truly help us?
Yes. I think so. To cure such terminal illnesses as Cystic Fibrosis, Cancer, and MS is groundbreaking.
But what about inside the brain. And I’m not talking about mental health.
What would happen if there was a cure for the way we think and learn and process, how would that effect us?
I usually give bias, but with post I won’t. Mainly due to two reasons:
1. I’m still thinking of my opinion
and
2. I want you to assume your own.
I don’t want to tell you what to think or why I think the way I do because that was never the intention of this blog. I merely want questions answered, or more appropriately, questions to be asked. I realize how difficult it is to live with any disability of any degree, I know because I have so many. I also understand that everyone is unique and with that uniqueness, others need to see two sides of the coin (the negative side and positive side). That coin being the disability. And by disability I mean difference–why not take back the label and turn it into something positive. However the case may be, we all learn, hear, see, feel, function, smile, imagine, and think differently. I mean, imagine a world where everyone thought, heard, saw, functioned, laughed, and learned the same…we’d have a pretty boring life full of constant obsolescence and most of all, a life without progress.
The Question
Now lets imagine if no one had a difference…and by difference, I mean disability. Would there be several unique cultures based on their awesome abilities (and not inabilities)? Would you have Sign Language, or Braille, or even the incredible assisted technology that comes along with those cultural differences? No. Most likely, everyone would have similar interests, communicate the same…heck, I’m not even sure we’d have texting (since the TTY is what started it all). If there is so much inequity with having a disability, there must also be a way to see the light of that disability. The question I want you to think about is whether or not we really need a ‘cure’ for having a disability/difference.
The Cure?
If there were ever a cure for something non life threatening such as, Auditory Processing Disorder or Deafness, would you want treatment?
Like I said, our world is changing more and more. With new medical breakthroughs every day, I’m surprised there hasn’t been a discovery cure for APD, Dyslexia, ADD/ADHD, or Autism (although it is in the process). If one were treated for any of these differences, would it benefit , or only make one’s state of mind scurry into a plunder?
Maybe in some ways it would help, but not in others…however, that is your’s to decide.
Would a treatment help us? Or would it help those who don’t need the accessibility as we do?
I’m asking you this because a treatment or a cure is bound to produced in the next couple of years…so this is something you should think about.
This is what I’ve heard many people with differences say:
“Why should people pity us for something we cannot help and choose to claim as our own? Didn’t God make every person with unique talents and abilities?”
If that is so, then we should understand that although there are new treatments to cure certain learning disabilities, however helpful they may be–the treatments and cures may change our ability to learn and comprehend. However, the true question remains…will it change us?
A P D iva 