A handicap is not a disease

It's amazing how in most societies there is a consensus or unwritten agreement or unspoken law that handicapped people are somehow just half a measure at best. It seems as though the handicapped person gets immediately categorized and mentally placed on a shelf containing "half" participants of society. It's as if there is one set of measurements or rules that the handicapped person is judged by, and they are based on the 'fact' that the person is handicapped. The individual seems to get lost in this judgement and unfortunately is not often looked at as a person. The 'system' has made its judgement and that is that. How can this be? The person is an individual, just like anyone else, he does not have a disease, he is not sick. Most shocking are our own preconceptions when we start speaking with an individual that is handicapped. Why not try and get a small revelation about your own preconceptions? I did once and it was a stark reminder for me, that even though I have good friends that are handicapped, I sometimes still make the mistake of looking at the handicap instead of the person. I was visiting my mother in a care home for the elderly. She wanted me to join her in their dining room for coffee and waffles, something we both enjoy, and have a little chat with her friends there. We sat down at a table and one of the residents sat there and was being helped because he could not move his body below the neck. I had seen him on my visits to my mother, but never really looked at the man. Now I did and I realized that he was not much older than me and was both very eloquent and fun to converse with. Suddenly I saw the man and at the same time saw my own preconceptions.