{"id":381,"date":"2010-09-30T09:01:52","date_gmt":"2010-09-30T09:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/2010\/09\/they-are-a-part-of-us-a-new-perspective-on-disability.html"},"modified":"2010-09-30T09:01:52","modified_gmt":"2010-09-30T09:01:52","slug":"they-are-a-part-of-us-a-new-perspective-on-disability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/09\/they-are-a-part-of-us-a-new-perspective-on-disability.html","title":{"rendered":"“They” are a Part of “Us:” A New Perspective on Disability"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Last week, I wrote a post for Motherlode called “Is it
\nHarder to Have a Child with Down Syndrome?<\/a>” Many readers (only some of whom
\nactually have children with Down syndrome) responded with a resounding, “YES!”
\nand many comments implied<\/a> that once Penny is an adult, we will begin to see her
\nas a burden, and we will understand her life as a tragedy.<\/p>\n

We, as any reader of this blog knows, are convinced that
\nthis daughter who is now a gift to us will continue, throughout her life, to be
\na gift both to us and to many. But the question of “What happens when she gets
\nolder?” is a fair one. What if she can’t live independently? What if she is
\ndiagnosed with Alzheimer’s (as many adults with Down syndrome in their 40’s and
\n50’s are)? What if we don’t have the money to care for her? What if we aren’t
\nhealthy enough?<\/p>\n

And in a broader sense, what about all the other kids with
\ndisabilities, whether that be Down syndrome or autism or cerebral palsy? What
\nhappens when they grow up?<\/p>\n

An article in this month’s Atlantic gave me a glimpse of
\nwhat could be the future. It describes “Autism’s First Child<\/a>,” the first man
\ngiven the clinical diagnosis of autism, Donald Gray Triplett. Mr. Triplett is
\nnow 77, and he lives a happy and contented life in his hometown of Forest,
\nMississippi. In the words of the authors, he has led a “long, happy, surprising
\nlife.” <\/p>\n

Some of this happiness and longevity can be attributed to
\nwealth and education–his parents were able to afford specialists and they were
\ntenacious in writing doctors about their son and seeking treatment for him. But
\nmuch of Donald’s “success” can be attributed to the support of his community
\nand his inclusion within the small town of Forest.<\/p>\n

In the author’s words, the future of people with autism
\ndepends in large part on how the “neuro-typical” society responds to them: “We
\ncan dissociate from them, regarding them as tragically broken persons, and hope
\nwe are humane enough to shoulder the burden of meeting their basic needs…
\nAlternatively, we can dispense with the layers of sorrow, and interpret autism
\nas but one more wrinkle in the fabric of humanity… This does not mean
\npretending that adults with autism do not need help. But it does mean replacing
\npity toward them with ambition for them. The key to this view is a recognition
\nthat ‘they’ are a part of ‘us,’ so that those who don’t have autism are
\nactively rooting for those who do.” <\/p>\n

Mr. Triplett is an example of what it can look like to grow
\nup with a disability in a social environment that includes and cares rather
\nthan shunning and casting off. I can only hope that Penny will grow up in a
\nsimilar context, and that our culture as a whole will begin to see “them” as a
\npart of “us.” That we all might be blessed by one another. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, I wrote a post for Motherlode called “Is it Harder to Have a Child with Down Syndrome?” Many readers (only some of whom actually have children with Down syndrome) responded with a resounding, “YES!” and many comments implied that once Penny is an adult, we will begin to see her as a burden,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7,1,6,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-disability","category-down-syndrome","category-family","category-what-im-reading"],"yoast_head":"\n"They" are a Part of "Us:" A New Perspective on Disability - Thin Places<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/09\/they-are-a-part-of-us-a-new-perspective-on-disability.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""They" are a Part of "Us:" A New Perspective on Disability - Thin Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last week, I wrote a post for Motherlode called “Is it Harder to Have a Child with Down Syndrome?” Many readers (only some of whom actually have children with Down syndrome) responded with a resounding, “YES!” and many comments implied that once Penny is an adult, we will begin to see her as a burden,…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/09\/they-are-a-part-of-us-a-new-perspective-on-disability.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Thin Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-09-30T09:01:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"amyjuliabecker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"They\" are a Part of \"Us:\" A New Perspective on Disability - Thin Places","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/09\/they-are-a-part-of-us-a-new-perspective-on-disability.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"They\" are a Part of \"Us:\" A New Perspective on Disability - 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Two major life experiences have shaped her writing and her faith\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcaring for her mother-in-law as she battled cancer and welcoming her daughter Penny into the world after she was diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome. Both experiences expanded and enriched her understanding of what it means to be human and to receive each and every person as a gift.\u00c2\u00a0 A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, she is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, and the forthcoming A Good and Perfect Gift (Bethany House). Her essays have appeared in First Things, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Century, ChristianityToday.com, and Bloom, among other online venues.","sameAs":["http:\/\/amyjuliabecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/author\/amyjuliabecker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}