A normal life
Today at work someone said something surprisingly meaningful. We were talking about how awkward it is to change someone or to help them goo to the bathroom. I find it very awkward to hold another man's penis, even though i should be used to it by now. Then Marzena said "better to help someone in a wheelchair than to be in it."
It sounds like a throwaway line, but it really touched me. Since I started working here I have been constantly juxtapositioning myself with the consumers, imagining what it would be like in their situation. I can only vaguely imagine how embarrassing it must be for them to need to be changed, or to be fed by someone. How helpless they must feel. How do they have the mental fortitude to carry on? I dont believe that I could.
i think its hardest on the TBI (traumatic brain injury) group. To have a normal life taken away from you so suddenly, to try to regain all that you've lost but know that you never will. it makes me sad just thinking about them.
And i know we shouldn't pity them because thats demeaning. But its so hard. Its hard not to be ashamed for having what they dont. Why can I walk, why can I run, why can I speak and they can't? Why do I deserve any of these blessings of everyday life? Why do you?
Maybe this is why it pisses me off when i see people not trying to better their minds. The brain is so precious, to not expand it beyond its borders is simply a crime. READ A GODDAMN BOOK, PEOPLE!!!
Yet i also know what its like to have an abnormal brain. I used to say "why do I have to be crazy? why do i have to take all these meds?" but I've come to terms with that. I am at peace with my handicap. I can only hope that my consumers feel the same way.
It sounds like a throwaway line, but it really touched me. Since I started working here I have been constantly juxtapositioning myself with the consumers, imagining what it would be like in their situation. I can only vaguely imagine how embarrassing it must be for them to need to be changed, or to be fed by someone. How helpless they must feel. How do they have the mental fortitude to carry on? I dont believe that I could.
i think its hardest on the TBI (traumatic brain injury) group. To have a normal life taken away from you so suddenly, to try to regain all that you've lost but know that you never will. it makes me sad just thinking about them.
And i know we shouldn't pity them because thats demeaning. But its so hard. Its hard not to be ashamed for having what they dont. Why can I walk, why can I run, why can I speak and they can't? Why do I deserve any of these blessings of everyday life? Why do you?
Maybe this is why it pisses me off when i see people not trying to better their minds. The brain is so precious, to not expand it beyond its borders is simply a crime. READ A GODDAMN BOOK, PEOPLE!!!
Yet i also know what its like to have an abnormal brain. I used to say "why do I have to be crazy? why do i have to take all these meds?" but I've come to terms with that. I am at peace with my handicap. I can only hope that my consumers feel the same way.