Squandered Indifference’s Weblog

Welcome to my stomping ground for everything stomping-impaired. I’m Janelle, but I go by many titles: handicap, disabled, differently-abled (I could write an entire blog on why this politically correct gem boggles my mind – Hmm, I think I will), etc. “Crippled” is by far my personal favorite, though. It is simple, direct, and maintains a sense of pragmatism I admire. Great literary figures such as Quasimodo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) and Tiny Tim (A Christmas Carol) come to mind when I hear the word. I also tend to imagine two great hands wrinkling a piece of crisp white paper into a ball. I can think of no other word that incites such emotion and requires so little explanation.

I only mention such things because I have been hard-pressed to find individuals that share my appreciation for the word ‘cripple’. In fact, it’s pretty damn difficult to find anyone willing to talk about disability in a tone not resembling patronizing or academic. It seems that most subjects Western Civilization once considered taboo are entirely commonplace now, if not already cliché. We no longer flinch at the idea of biracial marriages or surrogate pregnancies, but I’ve seen many a folk gulp down horror at the notion that not only can one come to terms with his/her crippledness, but that she may own it with pride.

The most adjusted members in society are those that are just as quick to poke fun at themselves as they are to laugh when others take a good-natured jab at them. I have no doubt a toe-head invented blonde jokes. The irony was surely not lost on the first Priest, Rabi, and Atheist to enter a bar arm-in-arm. And while I would be a lying fool to claim I even remotely resemble a stable member of society, I am the first to admit that many aspects of my own disability are funny, and deserving of a good laugh.

Reading this blog, I hope you’ll enjoy conversation-provoking pieces that in no way resemble the “politically correct” bullshit running rampant throughout our Country. Instead, I hope to reveal something resembling truth.