UCP chats with Abbey Curran and Sean Gray, two young adults with cerebral palsy, to get their thoughts on “disability and cure.”
When it comes to disability and finding a cure, various thoughts and opinions exist among people with disabilities and their families. Some view finding a cure for disability as a top priority – a priority that organizations, such as UCP should be putting most or all of their efforts towards. People ask why there isn’t more research being done and more progress being made toward something that is so obviously needed.
Others would much rather focus on the here and now. Their priority is fostering equal opportunity or developing accessible technology to make the lives of people with disabilities easier. To some, it is far more important to change society to accept and include people with disabilities than to find a cure. They feel they are just fine as is – it’s the rest of the world that has an issue with accepting them as a person with a disability.
Some might be more understanding of both points of view, or maybe they just haven’t thought about it very much. They don’t necessarily think they need, or should want, to be cured. But, they certainly understand how others might long for some sort of medical or therapeutic intervention.
Recently, UCP published a blog by a person with a disability who doesn’t want to be cured. The debate in comments and on social channels included a variety of people weighing in with sometimes completely opposite opinions. So, that led us to start asking a few other people with disabilities: “If there was a pill available right now which would cure you, would you take it?” There’s no right or wrong answer – everyone is entitled to their opinion. But we’re sure that a more robust discussion of a topic as important and personal as this one will be enlightening to everyone involved.
We interviewed two young adults with disabilities to get their takes on this topic. Abbey Curran and Sean Gray, who both have cerebral palsy, recently discussed with us what comes to mind when someone brings up a cure for their disability. As expected, their opinions weren’t the same. Check out the videos below.
Abbey Curran shares her thoughts on “disability and cure” with UCP.
Sean Gray discusses “disability and cure” with UCP.
We’d love to hear from more people with different disabilities, different degrees of disabilities or from family members or caregivers without disabilities. What does “disability and a cure” mean to you? Comment here or email us at info@ucp.org if you’d like to express your opinion in a future video blog.