The Bad, the Worse and the Disgusting

I had taken a break from blogging as this topic was coming up and I didn’t want to write about it. But I needed to write about it. Writing about personal rants and challenges are one thing but demons are another.

One day last year, I was out at a park on my part time job as a delivery person for a moon walk company working with a coworker.  It was a particularly hot day and I was anxious to get my work done and retreat to the cool air conditioning in the truck and a cold Power Ade. The work that we do is not glamorous at all. It’s sweaty, dirty, heavy and many times thankless. But we do what we must do.

On this particular day as we were making a pick up, a young man probably in his late twenties early thirties was walking by and observed us. He was a pale skinned, pre maturely balding man in tennis shorts, sneakers, t-shirt, back pack with a bandana tied around his neck a la Fred style from Scooby Doo.

He offered to help us moving some of the equipment advising us of his strength. We said nothing as he bent down and picked up a blower. Walking with this piece of equipment to the truck, he informed us with a slurred and slow speech about a person that he knew was secretly training him to be a Navy Seal.

Ummm, what???

After this person moved one blower to the truck, he was exhausted. In a gracious manner, he thanked us and went on his way. I was thankful that he left and simply didn’t want to be bothered. As I fashioned my mouth to say something unpleasant, my coworker said to me, “He reminds me of people that I know that have Downs.”

That one statement filled me with shame.

I have worked in the Special Olympics. I volunteered with mentally and physically challenged people in school. I knew the signs. Why didn’t I see it this time? What was wrong with me?

This unpleasant memory was brought back to me upon reading a story about Madeline Stuart. She is 18 years old and is the only professional model in the world with Down syndrome. What’s fascinating and encouraging is that she is not a token in any sense of the word. This girl walks down the runway with top of the line models and does high level print work. She watches her weight and conducts herself as a professional.

Others have criticized her. Some say that she’s being exploited while others are concerned about her being shown in a “sexual” manner, as if somehow this is reflecting her in a light that she may not be able to comprehend.

Well, haters gonna hate.

Telling someone that they shouldn’t do something because of your own preconceived notions of their limitations is the fault of the speaker. Not the person doing it. Beauty and ability comes in all different types of packages. And no one, certainly not me, has the right to limit someone’s aspirations whether they want to roll up a moon walk or swing down the cat walk.

You better work, girl!

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Adrian “Asia” Petty is an independent comic book publisher and director at Jericho Projects, Inc. Find out more about our books at http://www.jerichoprojects.com and like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/jerichoprojects