The Many Faces of Disability
"You don't have to be handicap to be different because everybody is different."
Kim Peek, The Real Rain Man
There are few things in this world that shocks us more then when you, a family member, or a friend becomes disabled. And let's face it, the Church hasn't always been the most understanding or helpful place for the disabled. We are told to pick ourselves off the floor, or buck up, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, pray more (specifically repent of your sins because that is why you are disabled), and have more faith. Advice is plenty and compassion is sometimes hard to find.
Arthritis, asthma,cancer,diabetes, COPD, HIV/aids are common chronic conditions. So is heart disease, Alzheimer's, and kidney disease. Chronic disease kills more people in the U.S. than any other single cause. 90% of seniors have a chronic condition and 77% of those have two or more.
It's startling to know that there are at least approximately 40 chronic diseases in the world. The majority of which are diseases that someone was born with or developed later in life through no fault of their own. There are those that developed a chronic condition because of bad choices. They are to be loved and helped just as much as those that had/have no say in their development of a chronic condition.
Disability has hit my family hard. I have Multiple Sclerosis and my dad had Parkinson's Disease and Parkinson's related Dementia. Dad died in May of 2015. Going to see him was hard. He was fading badly and his good days were not so good and we were losing a piece of him every day. If you would like to know more about Parkinson's Disease clink here.
As noted above I have Multiple Sclerosis. MS, like Parkinson's, is a chronic disease meaning it will not ever go away and there is no cure. Basically my body is fighting itself. If you can think of what would happen if you took the protective covering off a electrical cord and plugged it in, that is what MS does to the body. My autoimmune system is slowly eating the protective coating off of my nervous system which then creates false signals to my brain. Fatigue, pain, stiffness, walking, depression, and processing information are just a few of the every day baseline symptoms. I take injections every day to help slow down the progression of the MS. On a good day you wouldn't probably notice that I have a chronic disease. But that's on a good day. For several months I have had to use a cane to get around and that's kind of hard to cover up so know one can see. If you would like to know about Multiple Sclerosis click here.