OVERCOME – “To conquer; to vanquish; to subdue” – Noah Webster
IGNORANCE – “Want, absence or destitution of knowledge; the negative state of the mind which has not been instructed in arts, literature or science, or has not been informed of facts” – Noah Webster
As a communicator in both the spoken and written word for the past four decades I believe now more than ever that words mean things.
Our culture is changing the meaning of old words and creating new words all the time.
When in doubt I always go back to the Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language, to get the true meaning of any word in question.
Years ago our youngest daughter, Julia, came home for the holidays from college, where she was working on her degree to become a Speech Language Pathologist.
We had been out and about in public and when we got home she said to her mom, “Did you notice everyone starring at us?” Cindy replied, “No, not really. I guess I’m used to it.”
The truth is some people do stare. Some young children stare for what seems like an eternity. Some kids with very gregarious personalities have even asked us, “What’s wrong with him?”
It’s hard to believe that in our world today there are those who are still ignorant of what Down Syndrome, and other disabilities really are—That every person with a disability is much more like the “typical” person than they are different.
But yet ignorance prevails.
While I am thankful for World Down Syndrome Awareness Day, World Autism Awareness Day and every other day or week or month that is set aside to create awareness, it seems we are still falling short of Overcoming the prevailing Ignorance.
Today, and every day, let’s not shy away from sharing how truly amazing our family members, friends and people we serve with Different Abilities really are! Maybe one by one we can wipe out this kind of ignorance once and for all.