For most families, the birth of a child is the most awaited and cherished event of their lives. The birth of a baby marks the beginning of a family, the dreams they have of their child going to school, doing well, making friends, making memories, and bringing home medals, certificates, or some badge of honour.
Parents fantasise about the day their children take their first step, say their first word, run into their arms, make their first friend, get into a good college, marry, or have their own family. This is what all parents dream about as soon as they find out they will have a child. Unfortunately for some parents, that’s all they are: dreams.
1 in every 50 children is born with a mental disability. Be it autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, or a learning disability, This statistic does not even exist in our country, which means we have no way of knowing how many families and children are suffering due to these disorders or disabilities.
While just a word for so many, these disabilities are what define the lives of so many parents who have children that go through them. It does not only affect the child, but everyone around them. These parents will probably never see their child walk towards them, never hear their child say they love them, never see their child bring home a friend, and what is especially impossible in so many cases is to see their child become independent.
These children will always need a caregiver and a support system that gets more difficult each day their parents get older. The biggest concern at this point is not knowing how their children will survive once their parents are not around anymore.
No one talks about what it entails, being and raising someone with a disability.
Puberty, which is a sort of rite of passage, becomes such a difficult hurdle to get through if the child is differently abled. Girls and even boys are at a higher risk of being sexually assaulted if they suffer from some form of disability because they probably would not be able to report such an incident or even understand it themselves. Parents are always on the lookout, their lives revolving around their children more than usual. This creates a bridge between couples and destroys marriages.
We have to start looking at this from a different perspective. These children are God's gift to us. They teach us compassion and they help us become the best possible version of ourselves. We learn to love unconditionally and they remain forever untainted by the ways of the world. Let us change the way we look at them. They are not disabled, but differently abled.
A quote describes this beautifully: "I thought I would have to teach my child about the world, but, it turns out, I will have to teach the world about my child."
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