I could not climb the rock wall at Chapman, so I did something else instead. I took pictures of staircases. I wanted to show these things that have used for centuries to propel mankind upward. To bring us to places we could normally never go, and even though for most people climbing the stairs is simple, for me it is impossible. For most people they are a gateway but to me they are a barrier.
We talked about artificial limits, ones created by culture, religion, geography, politics, governments, economies, corporations. Ones that we put on ourselves and ones that are put upon us. But there are limits beyond us, ones that we did not create. Natural ones.
Animals are born as part of a chaotic yet effective process of natural selection, that has allowed life to thrive and evolve on Earth. However, this process is not without its margin of error. In order to evolve, there must be genetic experimentation. There must be variation. That variation is what leads to great success, it is what allows a species to survive. However that variation can also lead to great pain, suffering, and death as not all variations prove useful. Some even end up causing more harm than good. But in the name of survival, the sacrifice of the few is worth the well-being of the many.
And the system has never been questioned. Until us. We feel empathy, in ways that nothing else every have. Because we understand that every mistake, every miscalculation, every genetic failure of natural selection is a person. A person who, to no fault of their own, may face difficulties in life that others do not. A person who may have a harder time in life than most. But a person. One capable of thought, love, art, and so many other wonderfully human things. I am one of those people.
For me, disability has been a struggle. I’ll never stand at the top of Mount Everest, I will never stand at the top of Mount Anything. I can never rock wall climb. I can never go up in that sense. I can not put those limits on myself because I do not have that choice. I may never have that choice. I can never backpack through Europe, I can never traverse the beaten path, or go up and down the world, to places where cars can never go, to the beautiful and terrifying places that civilization has yet to conquer out of either impossibility or respect. There are restaurants and buildings I can never get into, because they are too high up, because my legs cannot carry me up like they do for most people. Simple tasks made infinity more complex because of my condition.
I have to wonder, what kind of person I would be if I had had all those choices. If I could go as far and as high as everyone else. Of I could climb those walls, scale those mountains, make those journeys. I like who I am, most days, but my limits have shaped that, and there’s always a part of my that wonders what life without that limit would be like. If maybe my life would be a bit better if I could climb a flight of stairs without my legs giving out from under me.
I live with it, I survive despite it. Even with Chapman’s plethora of stairs, they have elevators.
They have ramps. I can go where everyone goes, I can go as high up as everyone else; with the notable exception of Smith Hall, the basement of which I can get into but the actual building is impossible for me which is kind of a bummer if I am being honest.
Humanity and its empathy have helped me a great deal. I’m sure for some of us, it is still survival of the fittest.
-You’re born fast, you go fast
-You’re born strong, you are strong
-You’re born with working legs, climb the stairs.
And if you can't do something, then you can't do something.
But the disadvantage nature has put upon me, and millions of others, is unfair. There are a growing number who believe that everyone should have the same chances. The same choices. That going up, whether literally or figuratively, should be an ability everyone has. Taking down the limits put upon us by nature is an important step toward equality, and an important step toward bring humanity up together.
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