Galactic Poolhall

My fairly casual reading on Autism has led me to some interesting places. Most of which have nothing to do with the original affliction.

Today on a blog titled My Cancer hosted by NPR I came across the writings of someone dealing with the disease and reporting on it from their perspective on a regular basis.
The title I chose comes from their blog of April 10, 2008.

An Inconvenient World

“The world is not made for people who are in discomfort or pain. It’s certainly not made for the disabled. ”

We have all known victims of devastating diseases. Most of them start out with the usual fit of denial. Then they get into a poor me frame of mind and some of them never get over it.

The author of My Cancer seems to be dealing with it as calmly and rationally as anyone in that position could ever be expected to.

His comments on little things like the mat at Johns Hopkins, the hospital bathrooms not being accessible, automatic door problems and low chairs, remind me of all the time I’ve spent in hospitals.

My time in hospital has rarely been because there was anything wrong with me, but instead has been sitting with friends and relatives. This makes my perspective different.
If anything, ill designed bathrooms, malfunctioning doors, low chairs and a host of overworked and sometimes incompetent staff makes me angrier than it does the people I am visiting.

As patients they all seem to have developed a certain sense of resignation. While I tend to be of the opinion that hospitals are supposed to take care of people not just warehouse them.
(I also expect Dr Kildare, not Frank Burns, speaking some unintelligible language they purport to be English.)

Reading this blog reminds me that there is always someone coping with an inconvenient world.
It also humanizes a subject that is rarely addressed except in the abstract.

Tags: Lifestream //