Truly a Minority

I am eager to do a new Accessible Warsaw post, I have many pictures on my phone waiting to be dumped onto the blog, but my phone got knocked into the (thankfully clean) toilet yesterday. I broke my rule of no phone in the bathroom. It was sitting on the sink, safely away from the toilet, but my awkward dance of getting off my power chair and onto the toilet included the "knock the phone into the toilet move" that I hope to never perform again.  The phone was insured and a new one is arriving today.

So instead of writing about the accessibility of my town, I am going to write about being a part of the largest minority in our country, the group of people with disabilities.  I'm new to the group and frankly, not thrilled to be a part of it. In all of the television shows I watch, I wonder how the storyline would be different if one of the main characters was confined to a power chair. Olivia Pope in Scandal? Gloria or Claire in Modern Family?  Khaleesi in Game of Thrones?  Even when I was able-bodied I didn't have a ton in common with these characters, but I did have the common experience of being able to walk.

Yesterday I was watching a show on Netflix called Happy Valley. I paused the first episode 20 minutes in and watched a small 30 second segment over and over.  A husband was talking to his wife as she sat on the edge of the bed in her pajamas. As he was chatting, he was taking off her socks. Without a pause in the conversation, he stood up, then bent over as she wrapped her arms around his neck, and he helped her put her legs into bed.  I, as the viewer, was never told why the wife needs assistance removing her socks and getting into bed. It is simply a part of their life, not explained at all in this first episode. Words fail me when I try to describe the feeling I had watching that.  It was surreal. Seeing characters on a television show acting out my reality. It was powerful and made me feel "normal".

I am an adult who lived a good 38 years with a fully able body. And I still was touched by seeing this on a television show. Imagine children with disabilities. How empowering would it be for them to see their reality portrayed as a normal part of life on television, in movies, and advertisements.  Our culture has a long way to go to include people with disabilities.