Blessed with Disability Part 1: My Fear of Apathy
Author Dan Brown shares that “we all fear what we do not understand.” I often consider that perhaps the things we don’t understand are the results of diverse lived experiences regarding race, gender, culture, and/or physical and neurological (dis)abilities.
However, the lack of knowledge to comprehend that which we are often afraid of can also be the result of the lizard brain telling us that there is safety in selective ignorance. Poet Thomas Gray shares that, “Ignorance is bliss.” Yet, selective ignorance can be harmful when it concerns our empathy towards others. No bliss accompanies it.
My experiences as a person living with a disability through congenital amputation have revealed that there are people who choose apathy over empathy, and that scares me.
While some might view my career success as an overcoming of life’s challenges despite the disability; as if it’s a battle to win or something to be ashamed of, I know that it is because of those differences that I thrive. I have been blessed with a disability because it has taught me how to navigate an ableist world. Briefly, the medical model of disability is defined as a person who has a defect that must be cured by an able-bodied individual. The social model of disability states that a person is disabled by societal barriers and apathy toward meeting the needs of those citizens. We witness this lack of empathy in policymaking, in instances where it concerns affordable access to medical equipment such as prosthetics, other mobile devices, and medication. It’s also evident in educational institutions where student-centered learning that should focus on individual student outcomes is substituted for students having to meet the expectations of the institution, regardless of their individual lived experiences, which also limits access to individuals with disabilities. That scares me.
When empathy is chosen over apathy, we become predisposed to Truth; that which can liberate us. When we seek knowledge of other people’s experiences, we also admit that we are all inherently flawed beings who deserve to be understood. Vulnerability in admitting one’s selective ignorance is oftentimes the only way to heal, grow, and discover that truth.
To me, there’s nothing more frightening than a person who exists in a sphere of apathy. When we open ourselves to knowing more about others, there’s nothing more freeing than feeling understood and loved.
