Equality For All

I have asked others if they thought that everyone was born equal. Most often they answer, "yes." Perhaps it is politically correct to answer that way. By my own observations, I have seen that this is not the case. Some people are born more intelligent. Some have more opportunities. Some have more financial support. Some are born with significant health issues. We might not be born equal but we all are equal in human worth. Yet we don't treat each other as if equal in human worth. If the person with the fancier clothes gets attention faster than the person in old, torn clothes, we are not treating them equally. Each time I go to the checkout at the grocery store with a person with a disability, if the cashier only talks to me, they are not treating us as if equal in human worth. The trouble with this is that the individual with the disability actually notices that they are not being treated equally. They know they are treated differently but very often cannot express that it bothers them.

How do we start treating others as equal humans?

1.  Raised Awareness. We have to think of the instances in which we do not treat everyone in a similar manner to everyone else in society. An example is in greetings. Do you greet others differently based on how you perceive them? Do you use a sing-song tone with some and not others? Do you pat someone with an intellectual disability on the head yet you would never do that to another adult?

2. Practice Respect. Make a conscious effort to think of everyone in the world as having dignity and worth. Then practice it in your interactions with others and your comments about others.

3. Overcome Your Fear. Many people in society are fearful of what they don't know. Get to know people with disabilities just as you would anyone else. Just talk with them. If in doubt at first, take your cue from their support person.

4. Don't Ignore Them. Don't treat a person with a disability as if they are not there by talking exclusively with their support person.