Reflection on Disability 

I was very moved by reading the articles by John Hockenberry and Sally French.  These articles were about the real life experiences of two individuals who have disabilities.  One person was wheel chair bound and the other person had limited sight.  Both individuals were labeled by society as disabled.  In my view they both did indeed have a disability.   That is the whole point of both of the articles, the way that society viewed them made them want to deny their disabilities.  I am therefore as guilty as the cab drivers in Huckenberry’s article or the people in French’s article that made them feel that way.

The first article told the story of John Hockenberry who became a paraplegic due to a car accident.  He describes his life in the 1990’s in New York City, trying to hail a cab as a paraplegic.  He painted a horrible picture of me of our society treats people.   It seem like almost every cab refused to pick him up because he was a paraplegic.  He said some of the cab drivers that did pick him up refused to put his wheelchair in the trunk.  Some stated “I have a bad back”.  One cold Christmas eve when he could not get a cab, he wheeled himself over to a cab parked across the street from him.  He asked the cab driver for a ride.  The cab refused at first, then Hockenberry reminded him it was “f?>king Christmas Eve”, so the driver agreed. However, when Hockenberry got into the cab the driver refuse to put the chair in the trunk.  A series of events occurred and Hockenberry “went crazy”.  He had reached his tipping point, and he smashed out the windows, headlights, and tried to choke the driver.  He felt like he really wanted kill this person.  You will have to read the article to get a good picture of what happened, but I can understand his frustrations. For those of you who know the holiday movie “Christmas Story”, Hockenberry’s reaction to the cabbie reminded me of Ralphie in the Christmas Story.  The scene where Ralphie beats the bully because he had enough.

The profound event to me was the cab driver who did pick him up.  He nicely put Hockenberry’s chair in the truck and treated him as an individual.  Twice this man picked up Hockenberry.   I was thinking we need more people like this in society.  You later find out the cab driver is one of the men that bombed the Trade Center in 1990’s.   I just kept thinking how is this possible?

Hockenberry also discusses his experience as a paraplegic trying to get to and from the subway station. 

In French’s article she talks about her life long struggle to get people to accept that she has limited sight.  She felt bad when people asked her if she saw a rainbow, when she couldn’t.  So she started saying she could.   So she started going through life denying her disability.  She wanted to seem normal so other would not be unset.  This again was sad to me.

These two articles gave me a different perspective on people with disabilities.  We are faced challenges in our lives, some people more than others.  We should however treat everyone that same and as we would like ourselves to be treated.  We should not make someone feel bad about their disability or feel they need to hide it.  My other thoughts from reading these articles is that it seemed like Hockenberry and French both wanted to do things themselves.  So if I see a person with a disability is it better to ask them if they need my help or leave them alone?

Reading 33: Hockenberry, John – Public Transit

Reading 34: French, Sally – “Can you See the Rainbow?” The Roots of Denial