I just talking at lunch with some people at work and I said "what do you think of the interpreter at Mandela's service"? And he said "Noone cares about deaf people." Ugh. It made my heart sink. And he is a pretty nice guy too. It just makes you realize how the general world is. Pretty sad.
"Some people" does not the whole world make. The people you had lunch with may not care but they don't represent the entire world. Pay attention only to that/those who deserve it. The rest is just noise.
I know, but my point was that I considered the person who said it to be a very decent person so I was surprised he said it. There are others who wouldn't surprise me if they said that but he did surprise me. Made me sad.
I'm very practical when it comes to people. I know already that I will be disappointed, my expectations won't be met, I will be hurt, and most people are not how they present themselves. I tend to shrug things off and move on very quickly because it's just people being people. Enjoy the person for his/her qualities that you can relate to and appreciate. I'm sure there is a lot of good stuff about him/her too. As long as you validate and appreciate the gift of hearing and all that is done to help out those who have lost it, nobody else's opinion really matters. I know this is not the answer you may have been looking for but life's too short to be affected by anybody else's ideas.
I guess I wasn't really looking for a solution. It just made me sad. I will forever think differently about this person now.
I think it was an off the cuff remark more than anything else. Most people have a profound unawareness of people with disabilities unless it is a disability they have or someone they are close to does. It doesnt mean they have cruel feelings towards them, just that those people are off their radar. I know there are many people who suffer from 'invisiblr' things I have little u derstanding of such as Lupus and MS as examples. But i can be educated and want to be a carinf person, I just dont know everything yet. I would put this person in that category.
That is sad Sally It's also a good reminder to all of us to not say stupid, off the cuff remarks that may hurt another person or reflect poorly on ourselves when that is not what we really mean. I wonder if mentioning it to this person might be worthwhile?
