“Our responsibility is much greater than we might have supposed, because it involves all mankind.”

- Jean-Paul Sartee

This group of people make up over 40 million Americans and over 1 billion worldwide. This group makes up roughly 12% of the American population. And they are forgotten. What people who aren’t directly affected by it is: Disabilities affect all facets of society. Disabilities don’t discriminate against age, gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, or sex. It doesn’t care, it just is. It wasn’t until 1990, twenty-six years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 had passed that discrimination against disability was written as unlawful. It wasn’t until 1990, that individuals with disabilities were given equality in the United States. Still, the livelihood and existence of these 12% Americans are made taboo.

Let us be honest from the start: discussing the subject of disability isn’t comfortable for anyone. It’s the pink elephant in the room, and in a societal culture where offending an individual can come with dire, life-altering consequences, it’s difficult for able-bodied individuals to broach the subject with those who have disabilities. What’s the alternative? Individuals who have disabilities having open-arms, willing to have civil, constructive, intelligent, open dialogue with those who don’t to gain a glimpse of empathy. And similar to The TREVOR Project, older, disabled individuals should be paving the way for the younger generations, telling and letting them know: a fulfilling and happy life can be achieved, no matter how mangled your body may be.

“Disabled” isn’t a dirty word, just like how “Asian” isn’t. It’s not the word that’s offensive; words are just sounds from our vocal cords. We, the collective users of a language, give the sound meaning, context and connotation. It’s then, the word subsequently carries the burden of the meaning. It’s the language and other words we use to define it. However, the quality of being disabled is objectively a circumstance. Unfortunately, the circumstance happens to stray from the norm. In every standard spectrum, there is the mean, the mean within the spectrum is the norm. All disabled individuals become a standard deviation away from the mean, but unfortunately show negative symptoms.

Why is this linguistic understanding important? Because individuals with disabilities shouldn’t be ashamed of who they are. Disabled should be a circumstance someone says to describe themselves as like they describe the color of their hair. The circumstances of disability isn’t inherently evil, it’s just a bad poker hand at life. But just like any bad poker hand, you can either fight to see where it goes, or fold under the pressure. Now, it’s time to start doing something about it.

Disabled people have always been a forgotten and neglected minority across the world. Disabled people end up being left to their own devices and aren’t given the help they need. It’s up to the ones who are classically and professionally trained to use their expertise to help each other. Let us own the word, make it our own and create a better life, together.