Ron Santo, FDR and Me

Thoughts about Ron Santo, FDR and Me. 

I just heard the news of the death of Ron Santo, former Chicago Cubs third baseman and a Seattle native.  Ron determined not to disclose his Diabetes because he feared that it would prevent him from following his dream. 

 

We can only work toward the day we are accepted for what we bring to the plate. 

Ron Santo was really given no choice if he were to ever attain his goal of playing major league ball.  At least that was how he perceived it.  And so that was his reality. 

FDR went to great lengths to minimize his need for a wheel chair or leg braces.  Not to place myself in the same lofty company, but as a low vision person, I hid my disability for many years.  I even managed to hide it from myself. 

If Ron Santo and FDR saw it the same way I did, we each understood that we had overcome our disability, living our lives as "normal" people.  But at the same time we knew without question that our culture would see us differently if it knew the extent of our disability. 

Many people choose to "pass as normal" rather than have to deal with the public's attitude. 

Did Ron Santo do anything to advance the public attitudes regarding Diabetes?  Did FDR, during his lifetime, expand people's understanding of what it is like to deal with Polio? 

Did I help the cause of the Visually Impaired by hiding my own disability?  Heck, I was still in denial when I was totally blind.  

While I do believe that we are making progress, it is still a vicious circle.  We are products of our culture and we understand that disabilities mean that we are considered to be less than equal.  So to the best of our ability we hide our differences.  If we can't hide them, often we find we can be successful by over exaggerating them. 

So I guess all I'm saying is that I do not judge, but rather I admire the person who overcomes great odds, no matter how he/she does it...within acceptable limits, of course. 

 

Curious Carl