Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today I am going to be answering the question, 'is disability an adult issue?'
Let's get into my thoughts!
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| King, Alexandria. Musings of an Arthritic Artist. 2021. |
I can't remember where I saw this, but I was on Goodreads one day and I had come across a book that had a disabled character. I can't remember the book now and likely couldn't find it if I tried. There was a review by someone that mentioned that the book dove into a couple 'adult topics,' one of which was disability, and it caused me to pause.
Do people think of disability as an adult issue? It seems so. Most people believe children are carefree individuals who have no worries in the world. At least three million children in the United States live with a disability. That's about 4.3% of the under-18 population.
The harm with thinking that disability is an adult issue is that it ignores the struggles that many children face every day. Struggles that I faced and struggles that I didn't face for whatever reason. I'm going to tell a story. A story from my childhood. A story I only remember because my mom has told it a few times.
We had been traveling one day to a medical appointment out of town, and we ended up coming across this older man. He seemed to be in a sad mood. My parents started talking to him. Being a child, I didn't follow the conversation that well, so the majority of what I know is from my mother's recollections.
He saw me and told my parents how it must have been so nice to be a child because children have no care in the world; no worries; no stresses. My parents then told him that we were heading to a medical appointment for me because I had certain issues. After that, the man's mood changed. He seemed.....more hopeful.
Children aren't always carefree. Children still have struggles. They could be as large as disability or as small as a math problem on a test. Children have struggles. If children were always carefree, they wouldn't cry. They wouldn't get upset. They'd just be happy all the time.
I didn't have a carefree childhood. However, just because I didn't have a carefree childhood, doesn't mean that my childhood was bad. On the contrary, I loved my childhood and wouldn't change much about it. It taught me many important lessons.
When we treat disability like it's an 'adult issue', we ignore the fact that children have disabilities as well. This can lead to a mentality of 'you're too young for [insert medical condition here]'.
Disability knows no age. Disability doesn't discriminate. It doesn't matter your age, your race, your sex, your gender, or your personality. It can affect everyone the same, and children are no different.
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