Views:748 | By: Becky The term differently-abled was coined to stop the discrimination of people due to their ability to do things. All children are born different. But that is not why this word was coined. Some were born with abilities that were common but some people faced challenges in one sector or another.
Being different abled can be assessed by inability to walk, talk, see as well as associate in a normal environment but this impairment does not stop a person from excelling in different areas of life. Society often hide behind tagging individuals forgetting to appreciate who they are.
Today I will look at individuals with autism. Autism is often associated with persistent challenges in social interaction, speech and nonverbal communication, and restricted/repetitive behaviors.
This only describes one aspect of autism. Each individual with autism has different capabilities. The stereotypes we form about groups tend to block our inability to notice how differently-abled people may be.
I once met a young man. Let's call him George (not his real name). He had autism but had the chance to learn how to socialize but often felt the need to stay alone. The most amazing thing about George was his ability to perform well in maths. Not only could he calculate he would do it to the nearest decimal. He also could recall every aspect of his life down to the minute. With this ability, learning was an adventure to George. On the other hand, when asked to write about a trip to Mombasa he simply stated: "I have never gone to Mombasa". This shows that his ability was often based on facts and could not confidently create an idea without prior knowledge.
His ability was beyond many learners who are considered abled. But due to the impairment he had many often considered him different. Yes very often we do great things in the world but each day that goes by we realize we are all differently-abled.
Remember the Bible identifies that we were all made in the likeness of God. Appreciate the difference and embrace the support.