L'Indipendente

On March 2008 I published an article on this blog where I stated that we are all different, and thence that we are all normal, included disabled people, because being different is the normality. If you have not read it, you may want to do it before continuing to read this one.

Now I wish to demonstrate exactly the opposite, that is, that we are all disabled, in some way. The two statements are not in contradiction with each other: they simply demonstrate that the terms "normal" and "disabled" indicate relative concepts.

Let us consider first physical impairment. The woman in the image below, on the left side, is paraplegic from birth. So she is a disabled person. Now, look at the image on the right. Also the man in that image is on a wheelchair, but simply because he broke his left leg. So he is temporarily disabled, but he is experiencing mostly the same difficulties the paraplegic woman lives through from birth.

An accident might put each of us in such a situation. To have some accident is quite frequent in one person's lifetime, so most "normal" individuals have experience of a disabled condition at least once in life. But you do not need to have an accident to know how many obstacles an individual on a wheelchair may experience daily. Have you ever walked with a baby pram in a crowded town? If you go in some suitable place, like a park, no problem, but try to go shopping, cross streets, enter buildings walking with a pram or a stroller. It is a real trial!

Let us consider now sensory impairment. For example, the man on the left image below is blind. He cannot see obstacles, he cannot recognize faces in the distance, he cannot appreciate the beauty of paintings or photographs. Have you ever been in such a situation? Do not respond immediately: just think. Have you ever experienced misty weather, when fog is unbelievably thick? Have you ever searched for a candle in complete and utter darkness during a black-out? Temporary situations, of course, but during those events you was sensory impaired.

Just look at the man in the image below at left. He is fat, really fat. It should be hard for him to move, walk, climb the stair. Probably there are physical activities he will never practice, as running or jumping. Have you ever practiced breath-held diving? Try it in a sea abounding in fish, like Red Sea or in the Maldives. You will feel awkward, a clumsy and goofy animal in comparison with fishes. You will move slowly and react laggingly. You are out of your environment. Under the water you are a disabled animal.

So, there is no body-related disability that cannot be experienced by a "normal" individual at least once in his/her life; probably more than once. But what about cognitive or intellectual impairment? What about mental disorder? We might think that we should rarely experiment such conditions. Well, probably it is true, unless you are a hard drinker or a drug addicted. But even if that is not the case, think. Did you ever undergo a surgical operation? How did you feel when you woke up from anesthesia? Some cognitive impairment is also typical of specific pharmaceutical treatment. For example, several psychopharmacons have impressive side effects on brain.

Anyway there are a lot of people who do not drink hard, take drugs or just psychopharmacons. So what? Well, you do not need to experiment some chemical substance to experience mind-related disabilities. Have you ever been in a foreign country? For example, a place where people speak a language that is completely different from yours, maybe using a different alphabet? You have no way to communicate. You do not understand natives and they do not understand you. Even asking a simple question may represent a problem. "What time is it?" "Can you show me the way?" Trust me: you feel really stupid.

But even if you know more than one language, you might feel embarrassed sometimes. For example, I know some English. When I go to USA for business reasons I always speak English because it is really difficult that someone speak my language. But I am not so fluent in English as I am in Italian, and even if my English is good enough to ask for direction, have a meal in a restaurant, or even have a meeting with American colleagues, I am perfectly aware that I create the impression of an illiterate person. For example, I can hardly understand jokes or follow the lyrics of a song from radio. If people speak too fast, I may miss some part of what they say. When I speak, I realize that I could say it better, especially if the subject is delicate and may give rise to misunderstanding. Even this article is probably full of mistakes, and in any case a good English writer would have written it differently. I write much better in my language, but as an English writer I am probably poorer than an American teen. So, when I write in English, I am a disabled.

Language is only a minor obstacle, however, when you go abroad. You may be taken by surprise because of different customs, conventions, even laws. You can easily get in trouble because of your ignorance. Some usage can be so different that it could be antithetical to your believes and habits. Nevertheless it is not necessary to go abroad to feel uncomfortable. It may happen in your country too when you visit a town you have never been before. You can't get your bearings, for example. In many countries people living in different towns speaks different dialects or have different ways to communicate. What's polite in a place can be offensive in another and this is true for gestures too. Few years ago, two Danish parents, visiting New York, left their young daughter in her stroller outside the Dallas BBQ restaurant in the East Village of New York while they sat inside. This is perfectly common in Denmark, where the crime rate is low. But in New York, where people chain down trash cans if they want to keep them, police were called when worried passersby questioned child safety. So the two parents were arrested and jailed for two nights. For the American judge they were bad parents, but they were not: they simply were used to a different behavior perfectly safe in their own country.

So, the conclusion is that we all are disabled in specific situations. Some people is disabled for the whole lifetime, others experience impairments for a limited amount of time or only under specific circumstances, but soon or later each of us will live through the disability. Think about next time you will meet a so-called "disabled" person.

Look at the image below, on the left. She is a normal girl, is she? So what does make her «normal»? Well, she has two legs, two arms, one head, and she can see, speak, ear, think. Just an ordinary girl. Now, look on the right. He is a normal boy, is he? So what does make him «normal»? Well, he has two legs, two arms, one head, and he can see, speak, ear, think. Just an ordinary boy.

So they are both «normal». But they are different too! The girls is dark-haired whereas the boy is fair-haired. They have a different color of eyes too, and the girl is taller than the boy. Furthermore the girl has a degree whereas the boy is a bricklayer. So they have different education, abilities, capabilities, interests, habits too. But they are both normal, so that it looks like being different does not make any... difference. Does it?

Now, look at the image below, on the left. She is a girl too, is she? However, somebody may say she is «different». Why? Because she is from India. Same for the boy on the right. He is from Africa. They belong to different cultures, and they dress, behave, react to a situation, think differently. And of course the color of their skin and the somatic types are different from the previous ones.

But... we said that differences do not make any difference, so why diversity between cultures should matter more than diversity within a culture? And why the color of skin should matter more than the color of hair or eyes?

Ok, let us go ahead. Look at the image below on the left. She is a girl too, again. She looks «normal» but she is different from the first girl I showed you: she has only one arm. Also the boy on the right is different: he is affected by the Down Syndrome. Both of them have strong limitations, but they have a pretty normal life: the girl is a surfer and the boy a painter, an artist. Are they «normal»? A lot of people would say «no, they are disabled, handicapped people».

So, what is making an individual normal and what a disabled person? Which difference matters and which does not? Should we have at least two arms, two legs and one head? So what if I have only one leg? Or one hand? Or just four fingers in my left hand? Or simply I am bald-headed? It looks like I am normal if I have no hair but I am a disabled person if I have not a little finger. By the way, I know nobody with a perfect body. Each one has defects; some are more visible than others, but no body is perfect. So what about brain? How good should be my knowledge of math to be normal? Just arithmetics? Differential calculus? Tensor calculus? How good should be my memory? How many numbers, names, facts should I be able to remember? So, it looks like the separation between normal people and disabled people depends on quantity rather than quality, but where is the threshold?

But what if I am able to play a violin? Not like Paganini, of course, but quite good. Most of people does not play violin. Am I normal? Am I disabled? Maybe I am super. So what if I have not a leg but I play a violin? Am I super-disabled? What if I have the brain of a five years old child but the body of a thirty years old robust guy, and I am able to win a gold medal for weight lifting at the Olympic Games? Am I super-disabled too? So probably each of us is normal in one way, disabled in another, super in a third one? What the overall rating should be?

There could be only one conclusion, at last. Nobody is normal, that is, we are all different. Or if you prefer, we are all normal, because being different is the normality. Whatever criteria you use to assert that a person is not normal, it is probably possible to find an equivalent criteria to demonstrate that it is true for you too. If you pretend to demonstrate that by logics, of course. There is no discimination, no distiction, that can be demonstrated by logics. Eventually we are all normal, whatever is our aspect, our behavior, our belevies, and our mind. And even if somebody could be called mad, and some other handicapped, there is a bit of insanity in each of us, and each of us has some handicap with respect other people.

Therefore it is just a matter of quantity, but be careful to draw the border, because soon or later somebody will place you on the other side of some line too.

Si parla tanto di pari opportunità, di pari dignità, ma anche quando, con la migliore volontà possibile e in buona fede si cerca di ragionare in questi termini, si finisce sempre per ricadere in forme magari più sottili di ghettizzazione e distinguo. Un esempio?

Le paraolimpiadi¹. Stupenda iniziativa: bellissimo, favoloso, persino spettacolare vedere come un atleta disabile possa fare cose che sono difficilmente alla portata anche di chi disabile non è. Sciatori, ciclisti, persino giocatori di pallacanestro, uno sport che generalmente si associa a chi non solo non è disabile, ma ha addirittura caratteristiche eccezionali in termini di scatto e altezza.

E allora? Dov'è il problema? Il problema è che comunque si tratta di un evento a latere, che come tale ha comunque maggiore difficoltà a trovare la giusta visibilità presso il grande pubblico. Ed è da queste considerazioni che nasce la mia proposta:

DAL PROSSIMO ANNO ABOLIAMO LE PARAOLIMPIADI

ovvero, spostiamo le gare degli atleti disabili nella Olimpiade vera e propria. Come ci sono gare maschili e femminili, così aggiungiamo gare maschili e femminili per disabili. Già adesso, in alcuni sport, come il tiro con l'arco, i disabili competono assieme ai non disabili, addirittura nelle stesse gare. Dove è possibile facciamolo; dove non lo è, affianchiamo alle gare tradizionali quelle degli atleti disabili, ma nello stesso evento, in modo da dar loro lo stesso spazio che si dà alle altre gare, anche in termini di fasce orarie in televisione.

E questo non solo nelle olimpiadi estive e invernali, ma anche nei vari mondiali, nei campionati nazionali, nelle manifestazioni e nei tornei. Affinchiamo agli eroi dello sport nazionale e mondiale questi uomini e queste donne che, come qualsiasi altro atleta, riescono a dimostrare come anche i limiti più pesanti possano essere superati con la forza di volontà e l'impegno. Ma non in un mondo di serie B, sul quale apriamo una finestra una volta ogni tanto così da mettere a posto la nostra coscienza, ma sempre: nel nostro mondo, fra noi, così come fra noi dovrebbero poter sempre stare.

¹ So che molti usano il termine «paralimpiadi», traduzione letterale dell'inglese paralympics. In quel caso, tuttavia, la contrazione ha una sua logica, dato che in inglese hanno approfittato del fatto che sia paralytic che olympics hanno una sillaba in comune, ovvero «ly», per formare un lucchetto. In italiano, tuttavia, trovo che paralimpiadi sia orribile, per cui preferisco tradurlo paraolimpiadi.