A Matter of Dignity
Changing the World of the Disabled
by Andrew PotokOn a quest to discover how the world is changing for the disabled by talking to those who are changing it, Potok begins by interviewing trainer who first convinced Potok to get a dog from the Seeing Eye. Then he interviews a cast of characters which includes those fighting for disability rights, prosthetists, a music therapist, and others. In the last segment of his journey, Potok interviews the family members of those mental disabilities. That chapter has little in common with the rest of the book; it is not about habilitation, and it is not about acceptance or the disabled themselves. The contrast makes it clear that the other stories do have a common thread running through them. They are about individuals who are committed to a goal which will help disabled people. Many are themselves disabled, but pity does not factor into any of their lives or missions. Potok seems strengthened by their views, and speaks as a disabled person himself. He has retinitis pigmentosa, a condition that has gradually destroyed his sight. In starting out abled and becoming disabled, Potok has the misfortune to think of himself as having missed something, as opposed to the congenitally blind, who are, to themselves, complete.
Of great import to Potok and his interviewees is the manner in which disabled people are perceived. Potok notes the horror in which the disabled, especially those who loOk disabled, are thought of. He notes that services obtained by paraplegics whose looks were preserved when polio took their legs might not have been so well treated had their looks been ravished as well. Question: How much does a person's appearance matter? Is the answer different when the person is disabled?
Thoughtful reading.
