I’ve written before, from a different angle, about how disability is not as different from the norm as most of us think. There’s the spiritual reality that all of us are equally broken and equally beloved. There’s the emotional reality that, although some of us are more able to hide our need and vulnerability from others, we all share a common neediness and interdependency as humans. And there’s the physical reality that virtually all of us will be “disabled” over the course of our lifetime, as canes or wheelchairs or hearing aids or glasses become a necessity.
A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education tells the story of Professor Chris Gabbard and his son August. August is 10, and by many standards he would be considered “profoundly disabled.” His father thinks of August as “quirky.” Moreover, his father thinks of August as his son, his beloved son, his joy and delight.
“A Life Beyond Reason” is a beautiful testimony to the love of a father for his son, and it also engages the philosophical questions of the value of human life, the nature of suffering, self-sacrifice, the role of God in disability, and the power of love. I hesitate to even share some of my favorite quotations from the article because I want you to click on the link and read it for yourself… But just in case you don’t, at least enjoy the following:
“At home, in the eyes of my wife, Ilene; our 7-year-old daughter, Clio; and me, he seems merely a little eccentric, possessor of a few odd quirks, as I said. We don’t think of him as being different; he is August, just another member of an already quirky family. Although he cannot play with his sister, she loves him. Without being prompted, she recently made pipe-cleaner wheelchairs for her dolls and rendered her wooden doll house ADA-compliant by retrofitting it with ramps. Now the dolls wheel freely in and out.”
“Many well-meaning people would like to put an end to August’s suffering, but they do not stop to consider whether he actually is suffering. At times he is uncomfortable, yes, but the only real pain here seems to be the pain of those who cannot bear the thought that people like August exist.”
“August, along with my daughter and my wife, is the most amazing and wonderful thing that has ever happened to me, for he has allowed me an additional opportunity to profoundly love another human being. A person such as Peter Singer well may conclude, reasonably, that I have become overpowered by parental sentiment. So be it. I can live with that. There are limits to reason.”
But, again, don’t let the quotations be all you read. Click here for the full article.
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