The world is different for those who have disabilities or diseases that limit and curtail life. Some of these people are fortunate in the love and support that they receive from their loved ones; particularly their significant others. So is the expression of love different when one is differently-abled?
The Crutches&Spice twitter handle posed this question and asked people to respond using the #YouCanLoveMeButYouCantHoldMyHand hashtag.
People with disabilities have some unique and considerable needs: physically challenging and mentally exhausting. Some however are up to the task. They just do whatever it takes!
It doesn’t always have to be about the difficult stuff. Sometimes, just having fun together is important! A little bit of creative thinking, some patience and lots of loving – pretty much the recipe for any successful relationship!
Showing awareness and sensitivity toward the person with a disability can make the person feel loved and cherished… even in small, seemingly unimportant ways.
People without disabilities tend to be thoughtless; particularly in the case of ‘invisible disabilities’. They sometimes express impatience and disbelief or let on that they feel that the disabled person may somehow be ‘overdoing’ it if not actually faking it. Simple belief in a person’s disability and pain can be more important than we may think.
For some couples, being intimate is difficult because of various reasons including having a depleted immune system. So they find other ways to express their love for each other – including by cooking!
Disability isn’t just not being able to see or walk or hear. Disease, reduced mobility, depression – these are disabilities too. They can all disable and incapacitate a person.
Sometimes all the compassion that a differently abled person needs is to be treated normally. Remember there is a thin line dividing compassion and pity. All they want is for the opposite person not to behave as though they had some terrible affliction that needed special care and attention all of the time.
One of the most important things a person can do for another who is disabled is to help without making an outward show of it; by not offering help when it is unnecessary. Supporting a loved one also means facilitating their independence and self reliance to the extent possible.
While some are fortunate in the way that they have found loving, compassionate partners, others are much less so. Many people are simply unable to look beyond a person’s physical infirmities or imperfections. However, the thread did seem to give a lot of people hope for the future.
Those with mental health issues often say what they don’t mean and do what they are horrified by later. The ability to forgive and forget hurtful things that a person says because of a mental condition is deserving of praise indeed.
Do you have something interesting you would like to share? Write to us at [email protected]
