I have met five or six head-injured guys in the past four years that have especially offended me (pissed me off too), because of the presumption that their injuries were much less severe than mine, leaving them with only memory and concentration problems, psychological difficulties such as bipolar disorder, and/or seizures, but with all of their physical faculties. Hey, wait a minute! I’ve thought. I don’t have memory problems or seizures, bipolar disorder, or significant concentration problems. (I do have psychological difficulty caused by a chemical imbalance as a result of my injury.) But why do my resulting limitations so obviously constitute a “much more severe injury” than these dudes’?  Well, that’s merely illogical. But their seemed implication that they are better or on a different par than I because of it is pretty damned audacious.

I understand it perfectly. So much emphasis is placed on physical ability and appearance these days that if something looks ‘normal,’ it is ‘normal’ (Please see my post Sideways Communication in the ‘Communication Detours’ category.) Sometimes when I’m depressed, I agree with that. I mean, it certainly is a valid claim. I often wonder if I would feel limited if the world didn’t see me that way. I question whether I would feel as out-of-place as a minority in society if no one else could tell that I was. I guess my own self-doubt is the reason the dudes have offended me so much. But on the other hand, I don’t have seizures or bipolar disorder, and I can reason, learn, remember, and teach. Facilitating peoples’ education is no small potatoes at all! Teaching requires judgement, humility, patience, creativity and flexibility, tons of mental abilities. It’s just unfortunate that only people who know me, and I, can recognize them in me.

Well, to the first dude, I gave the benefit of the doubt. Usually, I just like to ‘rise above’ people who hurt me with backwards logic, but I had too much anger to let it slide completely. So I wrote him a long, diplomatic letter explaining that I may have misunderstood him and stuff. Still giving him the benefit of the doubt, I ended my letter saying, “But if you do think you’re better than I just because of your physical abilities, blow it out your ass!”