Stand Up: When Disability Is Seen as an Outrage
A disabled comedian proves disability doesn’t have to be as strange as some might think.
They say the hand is quicker than the eye — that man’s natural ability to harm or hurt someone else can do more damage than any weapon. If this is indeed true, any part of mankind’s soul was made with the wrong intentions, the assumptions that we often throw at one another can be compared to the hand that does the damage.
We cause even more destruction if we continue to degrade others to the point where we to violence as an answer. The hand of devastation only becomes stronger and more powerful. If we keep making assumptions without knowing solid facts, only to find out we’ve been wrong all along, it makes for a difficult situation. When talk of disability is thrown into the mix, it becomes even more of a personal attack. By the same token, the individual being attacked can only control this by the way they react to it — and that’s exactly what comedian Ryan Niemiller has proved.
According to an Upworthy.com article, a young girl responded horrifically to the fact that Niemiller is disabled — which he made note of during one of his comedy shows. The girl’s response led him to go into a discussion about the need for empathy, and how the lack of such emotion eventually distorts perception. In the video above, he expands on this observation:
“When people first meet me, it gets really weird [and] uncomfortable. They can’t handle that moment of awkwardness of meeting me, so they have to make it right for themselves — not for me. So, what they do to ease that tension, is they’ll mention something to me that I can’t do — and then say, ‘That sucks.’”
Niemiller goes on to say that people pick such outlandish things and automatically assume he is incapable of doing the things they mention. He says he’s learned to “laugh it off” in a mature way — which is part of what makes him a success in the comedy world. In addition, one can also say that Niemiller is a role model, both for the way he handles his disability and for the way he perceives and deals with the perspectives of others.
If anything, I think Niemiller is an example of what can happen when one’s perception is completely changed. They may have their doubts at first. They may not even believe, but then, someone says or does something that makes them open their eyes. To me, that’s the true mark of change — and it’s where a real difference can be made.
If you liked this essay, subscribe to updates about Erin M. Kelly and her work:
—
This story was previously published on The Good Men Project.
