R Review From Scalp to Soles 107
on forms not considered typical by the society. Looking at it from
the outside, the result may place the disabled person in a sub-typical
role. Looking at it from the inside, the result may be that the dis-
abled person wants to prove how typical or super-typical she is.
If a birth defect places the person in a life-long struggle to
overcome the sub-typical role, imagine the struggle when the dis-
ability occurs in adult life through trauma or disease. Franklin Delano
Roosevelt was 39 years old when polio struck and paralyzed both
of his legs up to the hips. Imagine the impact. FDR fought for
normalcy through rehabilitation that was both costly and difficult.
How did this impact his sense of belonging and later even his po-
lices of entitlement of average Americans?
Regardless of the type of disability, physically challenged people
have something in common: steps, curbs, and banks of snow present
problems. Similar to a red-headed woman I once met who thought
we should stick together because of our hair color, some people
find unity in physical adversity; others live their lives as if it’s irrel-
evant. As we look more closely at the holistic view of body lan-
guage in Chapter 5, you will see how this manifests itself in open
versus closed movements—even in cases when disability severely
limits movement.
Disability can blind people on the outside to the real person and
how the person’s culture impacts her psyche. The natural reaction
of an unaffected person is to feel guilt and remorse and to over-
accommodate, which is in its own style treating the person as sub-
typical. Activists such as Marta Russell criticized Mother Teresa
for building a homeless shelter in New York City without elevators
to accommodate the disabled. She responded that an elevator is a