“Political Correctness” – Enough, Already!

O.K. I admit it. Sometimes all this political correctness about disability cranks my tractor. I’m a regular guy, and yeah, I’m in touch with my sensitive side. My eyes tear up in sad movies or lately, when I hear the Star-Spangled Banner. So don’t get me wrong here. I just don’t see why we need to label people like we are part of some human ISO 9000 plan. I’ve seen the full range of sensitivity: like when people say to me, “It must be really hard being handicapped.” I just look around like I don’t know who they are talking about and say, “Yeah, must be.” On the other end of the scale, there was this guy who passed me during a marathon I ran and said, “Bummer about your leg, man.” When I passed him at the 24-mile point where he was rubbing out a leg cramp, I just said, “Bummer about your leg, man.” He got the message.