Our world

I was watching a youtube clip about this young man in Turkey who is hearing impaired and most people in his town decide to surprise him by learning sign lauguage and one day,he walks out the house and the entire clip is about every person whom he comes across that day,communicating with him in sign language as a matter of fact,without it being a out of the way thing. He is walking with his sister who knows of this arrangement,but keeps the secret and plays along.
What amused me was the fact that the young man, after every "chance" encounter with someone who enthusiastically signs at him,asks his sister if one of those people is deaf,and if the other is okay..........
Suddenly I realized,that his world was changed! It was filled with people who were exactly like him! He could live with ease in this world. He could communicate without restraint,make friends with ease, live a " normal" life! There would be no condescension,no pity,no sympathetic looks,no uncomprehending stares,no hurtful remarks,no snide asides.....because he would " belong"!!
Yes,belong.
And this urge to belong is almost primal.All of us have it, and I think it was born out of a survival instinct innate to most animals that were at risk of being preyed upon. And humans, I think when we landed on our  feet, weren't as judgemental as we are now. When in danger, I am sure the ones who couldn't keep up were left behind to their fate, and the fittest survived. But that had nothing to do with what was considered "normal" ,but more to do with staying alive. Each man for himself.
But now we live in a world which does not pose that kind of danger or risk, where every moment has to be spent with hypervigilance, lest a predator gobble you up for lunch. So now, the whole concept of belonging has taken on a whole new meaning.
What is considered normal and what, different has become a point of contention where "majority wins"seems to be the rule of thumb. That fact that the majority might not necessarily be right or fair has become irrelevant.
Take homesexuality- what was once considered a disorder and took its supposedly rightful place in the DSM manual has become mainstream enough that no one, especially the millenials would remember those dark ages at all.
We have famous celebrities coming out with their  mental issues and creating the awareness that to be a functional human being does not mean every one has to be made from the same mold.
But when it comes to certain disabilities, it seems very difficult for people to accept that different does not necessarily mean,not normal.
As accommodative as the occupants of the world are trying to be, there is always this impatience, this judgement and unfortunately this underestimation of people who are not like "us".
I remember reading somewhere that Temple Grandin,whose brain, functions so very differently from the supposedly normal brains that we presume to possess,used to think everyone else as dumb,because they didn't think  and process information the way she did! Then she came to the
conclusion that other people's brain functioned differently!  See my point? People who are in the
minority can consider the general population "different" too! Here  we have to concede that more than 80% of the supposedly normal population can only begin to dream of achieving what Ms.Grandin has. So precluding differently abled people because they cannot function the way we do is very short sighted and ultimately self defeating.
Mostly wildly successful differently abled people get to that point because they have a very small but very dedicated support network- usually parents and sometimes, teachers and therapists. But to get to that point of success, they usually have to fend off a million naysayers, a thousand roadblocks, a hundred judgemental, officious rejections and more. Can we begin to calculate how many such people lose out because of all the aforementioned  barriers put in their way? To have to wade through all this muck is a monumental task and sometimes people just give up because it is too much. So much potential wasted, so much the world loses because we do not want to accomodate everyone.
So what has becoming civilised done to us? Have we evolved enough to be inclusive? I don't think
so.
But time is a great healer, it marches on and unbeknownst to us, things change, evolve and turn on their head. What once was a struggle,becomes a matter of fact way of life. What once was unthinkable,becomes ordinary and normal. But a simple catalyst can speed things up, so that people need not look back on days when things were " different". Rep.Barney Frank has mentioned how his sexual preference had to be kept strictly under wraps because to a politician, being gay was career suicide. But look at us now,homesexuality has become so matter of fact that refusal to bake a wedding cake for a same sex couple can lead to a lawsuit! Who would have thought!! So, the next time you see someone who seems different, stop and think before judging them based on what you see on the outside. Their potential might not be obvious,but give them the benefit of the doubt- maybe they might end being the one who finds a cure for cancer,or an antidote to facebook!!