Some random thoughts and a video of a peculiar village

I guess this caricature clarifies enough my stance about differences.

Today at class we had a lively discussion about the construction of normalcy and how those who didn't fit into these norms were categorized, "rehabilitated" in order to adapt to the society. It reminded me of my AFS host brother Jean. Le Petit Jean (yes we really called him like that as a pet name) had trouble reading and writing. I imagine he was dyslexic since he would jumble up all the letters when I helped him with his homework. He was a bright eyed small framed cute 8 year old who was an amazing talker. There seemed nothing wrong with him. In fact, there was nothing wrong with him. The youngest of four, he was struggling at school. But I liked the village teacher's approach. She said "il faut lui fouter la paix"; which meant that one should leave him alone. He would learn to read, and who cared if he was slower than his peers? And without any pressure, Jean was really able to read without trouble by the time he was 9. It was good times...

Then I think about what would have happened in Turkey, where the one who starts reading the first is praised, and those who couldn't read were humiliated, pushed aside, ignored and told off. As if learning is a competition. What a bashed self confidence! No wonder so many people grow to be convinced that they are not good enough. That they are unworthy... Jean's an amazing young man now, and has no trouble at school; acquiring reading skills the latest in class changed nothing at all. Not that I mean that those who need medical attention shouldn't seek any. Had Jean not been able to read by 9,5 years old, he would have had to seek medical attention, but that's not the point.

Why don't we just let people be? The rehabilitation discussion I had at class reminded me of all this. Obviously, some people need medical attention, but what if some others don't? Why push them to the margins of the society? We must remind ourselves that homosexuality too, at one time was perceived as an illness. 

So yes, I guess when we're talking about bodies of difference we are also talking about the pace of things. I think we should let people learn and live within their own terms and own pace. That's what the system doesn't permit us to do (and at times they actively prevent us from being different). The society expects us to comply and conform. It forces us to do things at a certain age within a specific time. I remember my adolescence. I was the latest to go through puberty, but once it hit, I had pimples all over my face. Even the slightest difference deemed unaesthetic makes you so easily and openly pushed. Glasses. Braces. In some contexts, being a Star Wars fan and openly discussing it is a social suicide. I had this friend who was deemed "stupid" because she had bad grades and she still played with her dolls at 14. 

This video is about a village named Botton. Its residents are comprised of mentally disabled people and volunteers that take up the role as parents. That I find quite problematic. The video is actually sympathetic towards this village but as many documentaries, there is this fascination of the "weird". Discovery channel and TLC for example, are almost like open air circuses. Botton's perhaps the crystallization of the most absurd ways of "dealing with" people who are marginalized in our production obsessed society. See for yourselves and enjoy the video. I will be posting a video about the education system tomorrow; although it is not related to the issue of disability, I think it has a good point in demonstrating how our society doesn't really leave space to different skills and talents.