Who's not different?
Autism.. Dylexia..Down’s syndrome. For ages parents have been battling conditions such as these with their children. I say only parents and not the children because these children don’t probably consider themselves as a “special” child. It is the parents and the people around them that find them different.
That probably is the key word - different.
So why do we say that they are suffering from a medical condition? Isn’t the fact that they’re different enough for us to accept them as one of our own? We all accept a lot of different things. Men are different from women, and both of them are different from children. So why don’t we accept people with special conditions? Is it because they are in a minority? Or is it because the minority is not powerful enough? Or is it because they don’t communicate in the same language as the people in the majority?
What triggered this thought in me is the recent movie Taare Zameen Par. What the movie definitely did is convey very efficiently the fact that children with special conditions are not retarded; they are just different - just like you and me. If you are someone who accepts diversity then you will appreciate the fact that these kids are just a different kind and have different needs. More importantly you need to acknowledge the fact that they are just different.
It will need more than just a movie to induce this into the people. Or considering the fact that movies have probably the largest reach in our country, maybe it will need many more movies like these.
A closing point for us to ponder - Why does it take a movie for us to realize this?
That probably is the key word - different.
So why do we say that they are suffering from a medical condition? Isn’t the fact that they’re different enough for us to accept them as one of our own? We all accept a lot of different things. Men are different from women, and both of them are different from children. So why don’t we accept people with special conditions? Is it because they are in a minority? Or is it because the minority is not powerful enough? Or is it because they don’t communicate in the same language as the people in the majority?
What triggered this thought in me is the recent movie Taare Zameen Par. What the movie definitely did is convey very efficiently the fact that children with special conditions are not retarded; they are just different - just like you and me. If you are someone who accepts diversity then you will appreciate the fact that these kids are just a different kind and have different needs. More importantly you need to acknowledge the fact that they are just different.
It will need more than just a movie to induce this into the people. Or considering the fact that movies have probably the largest reach in our country, maybe it will need many more movies like these.
A closing point for us to ponder - Why does it take a movie for us to realize this?