Differently Abled

On July 26, 2010, the Americans With Disabilities Act celebrated its twentieth anniversary. While it’s pretty amazing to contemplate the protections the act has afforded the differently-abled, it is also mind-boggling to realize it took so long for such protections to find their way into law and that twenty years just isn’t very long. To put it in personal perspective for me, that means the act has been around less than half my life and the opportunities and rights I have always enjoyed having been blessed with a sound mind and body have only been mandated for everyone for two decades. I have a kid older than that. Having worked extensively with the disabled population for the last three years, I have been afforded a first-hand look at the challenges they face--and also the gifts and talents they possess. It’s often hard for people who don’t know and love these kids to interact with them. I forget this until we go on outings and see the varied levels of comfort people have with the unknown. Some do great either naturally or because of someone in their life, most experience good-intentioned awkwardness, and a very small few exhibit some malice. But mostly, people just want to know they are interacting properly with a population they know little about. In Stephen Cosgrove’s Fanny, a three-legged cat is sorely misunderstood by the barnyard, until a little puppy who doesn’t know any better makes friends. Sometimes different is just different until it becomes familiar.

http://www.amazon.com/Fanny-Serendipity-Stephen-Cosgrove/dp/0843114606

http://www.stephencosgrove.com/