(43rd Entry) Invalidos

Invalidos… Invalid… A old word used often in Mexico to describe a person with a disability. Another word that is being used more often today instead is incapacitades… or incapacities. A word that is probably more politically correct. In the U.S. during my lifetime the word for disabled has changed quit a few times… crippled, handicapped, disabled, and then… all of the “challenges”… physically challenged, mentally challenged, technically challenged… OK… I have to have a little fun with this.

A label is a label is a label… Right! We change words to make people feel better about them selves and maybe along with the change in words comes a little change in attitude… if we’re lucky! BUT… a description, a label, a differentiation still denotes a difference.

Mexico is a wonderful, caring, compassionate country in many ways. My memories of coming to Mexico when I was young still resonate within. For me Mexico was a place I could come as a little kid in the mid to late 60’s and not feel as “different”. In Mexico it seemed that I could just be and not be reminded that I was different. I don’t think I consciously understood this at the time… I was only 6 to 12 years old.

On those visits I don’t remember being stared at or comments being made continually or being the object of attention in a negative way. I always loved the feeling that I had when I visited Mexico. The people always treated me well. It’s the same feelings that I have about New York. Others might not see it or feel it, but I do… and that’s really all that matters. As far as Mexico goes, I think the rest of my family would concur that there was something special… after all the whole family lives in Mexico today.

During the 60’s the U.S. was much different than today. As I’ve said on several different occasions the hospital that I went to for physical therapy didn’t even have outpatient care in those days and you didn’t see people with disabilities out in public.

Some times I write things in my blog that I don’t necessarily know if they’re true or not, but I always say that it’s a memory or a feeling that I have or remember. Here’s another one… My memory… My Dad and I are in a hardware store when a lady walks up to my Dad and says, “You and your wife must have been horrible people for God to have punished you with a child like that.” This memory would be from the mid to late 60’s.

Mexico was different. There was compassion, a spirit that the people had. Mexico was a very poor country is those days. Maybe because of the poverty people were used to seeing all types of people with all types of conditions. Mexico has changed over the years. We truly live in a global world… via the internet, MTV, etc. But that basic spirit that I felt when I was young still exists to a large degree to this day.

But the workplace might be different… to be continued!