In 2009, my wife slipped and fell and shattered her ankle. She was in a wheelchair for two months and then on crutches for two months, and it really gave both of us a huge insight into the struggles that permanently disabled people face in our society -- despite the ADA and generally better accommodations for disability than most countries in Europe. We considered ourselves to be fairly empathic, but it was a real eye-opener.
I have a good friend who is disabled through over-prescription of benzos and is slowly reclaiming her life. It's brutal to watch what she has to go through, just to be treated with basic decency -- for afflictions that are not at all her fault (she was one of the best software quality assurance workers I have ever met before her benzo dependency).
The vast majority of people in this country have absolutely no idea what life is like as a disabled person.
In 2009, my wife slipped and fell and shattered her ankle. She was in a wheelchair for two months and then on crutches for two months, and it really gave both of us a huge insight into the struggles that permanently disabled people face in our society -- despite the ADA and generally better accommodations for disability than most countries in Europe. We considered ourselves to be fairly empathic, but it was a real eye-opener.
I have a good friend who is disabled through over-prescription of benzos and is slowly reclaiming her life. It's brutal to watch what she has to go through, just to be treated with basic decency -- for afflictions that are not at all her fault (she was one of the best software quality assurance workers I have ever met before her benzo dependency).
The vast majority of people in this country have absolutely no idea what life is like as a disabled person.