choice to be disabled or differently abled

Two incidents that occured at different places become inspiration for today's blog. First one occured at a friends function at westin gurgaon, I observed a lady being differently abled as she was using one artifical lower limb. The smile on her face and the confidence that she carried showed how content she felt in life. Other incident occured yet again at my favourite spot for inspirations, I.e. Delhi metro. I saw a differently abled man, who crawled on the floor as his lower limbs didnt have the strength to carry his weight and he seemed to be suffering with rickets. He was observed as self reliant waiting for metro, while others around seemed irritated by the crowd. At first I was scared of him getting stamped, and the first thought that ran in my mind was that, was he not aware of a wheelchair facility at delhi metro? or did he chose not to take one? however how is it that he was not noticed by the staffs all over from AFC gates till downstairs where metro arrived for yellow line, for many around these two people might have been disabled, but for me they were definitely differently abled. They had the courage to fight the challenges of life and knew how to stand apart from the crowd while being a part of the crowd, that too fearlessly by maintaining a smile.  

How many times in life have you felt disabled becuse of some emotional stress and fear caused by your own mind? did you ever thank God for having all working limbs and body organs? While dealing with emotional stress all you needed was, to start learning how to smile and manage your fear.

I am certain that many a times in life you ignored the fact that you were an able bodied person, but you always lived in self pity and kept telling your self that a new challenge in life has made you disabled. Henceforth I hope you would make a consious effort to choose the adjective that you would want next to your name. Disabled? Or differently abled?

Manisha Dawar