Hingson, Grandin, . . .and me?

  i never think of myself as having a disability.  Might come to that, with the knees & all, but being left-handed is just an inconvenience.

  The world is made for right-handed people, you know.  And after all these years, i've learned to unlock the car door with my right hand though it would be more convenient to use my left.  i'd just have to shift hands anyway to put the key in the ignition.

  An inconvenience.
  Very few people have been denied jobs because of the "disability" of lefthandedness.

  In Grandma's day, kids like us were threatened with having their left hand tied behind their back if they didn't change.  Or worse.

  And the eye thing.

  You can't really see my glasses in this photo, though they're there.  My vision, before the recent cataract surgery, was 20/1000, well over legally blind if it hadn't been correctable.  Post surgery, it's good enough to forget my glasses, but not totally do without them.  (That would take another two surgeries - no thank you!)
  Grandma was never able to read for pleasure again after her cataract surgery.

Coping

We cope.  Sometimes technology and science helps, but these, lefthandedness and correctable vision, are not really big problems.
  With the lefty thing, the biggest problem is the darn backwards world other people have made for us.

For my issues, it's not a big deal.  Everyone has problems of some sort, and that's not why i bring this up.

Recent Reading

  A couple months ago i listened to Temple Grandin's mom, Eustacia Cutler, speak.  Then i read Ms. Cutler's book, Thorn in My Pocket.  (The title refers to a speaker's trick, but the book is about raising Temple.)  Next week our book club discusses Thunder Dog, about the experiences of a blind man and his guide dog, leading up to, during, and after September 11.

Comparing

  i found many similarities, and , in the afterward of Hingson's book, a former NFB president compared the possibilities in the blind experience to lefthandedness. 
  Later i made a chart comparing the lives of overcomers Hingson and Grandin.

Click to Enlarge for Readability

Expanding the Lesson

  So, i had a couple of good reads.  i do not think of my lefthandedness as a disability.  What's the point of all this?

  How many other special needs can we say this about?  Hingson reported having a job interview cancelled because the formerly-excited interviewer learned he was blind.  Yet he later earned a six-figure income leading a sales team  in a high-profile computer firm.  People depended on him in the flight from the two towers.  Grandin is a leading figure in her industry, yet many with autism are under-educated.  One in three lack employment at all.