This is Not About Mental Health. It is about disabilities, resilience, and patriotism. Happy Fourth of July.
( From My Files Friday) My sister-in-law, Dana Davis, was deaf but she never let her lack of hearing slow her down. When she was a teenager, the local swimming pool said she couldn’t be a lifeguard. My wife, Patti, who was two years older than her sister, and Dana demanded an audience with the pool’s board of directors and convinced its members to give Dana a shot.
She got the job and did great at it.
Dana and her husband, Donnie, had one child, Matthew. He was born with Absent Radius Syndrome and foreshortened arms. When the radius bone is missing the thumb does not form and the wrist is not supported, therefore Matt’s hands are curved. My son, Tony, who was little when Matt was born, said that God must have known what He was doing when He picked a family for Matt because Dana would know what it was like to be different.
She didn’t lower her expectations when it came to Matt.
Dana died in 2006 from lung cancer. Matt is an adult now. The video shows Matt as a child singing a song called I’m Proud to be an American, with lyrics written by Lee Geenwood.
It reminds me on this Fourth of July that our country is a nation where people who are different are guaranteed the same rights as everyone else. That’s what the Americans With Disabilities Act and a slew of other anti-discrimination laws are about. We are not perfect, as recent hate crimes show, but I’m proud that we as a nation set lofty goals.
It shouldn’t matter if you are deaf, if you are born looking different from other people, if you practice a different religion, have a different skin color, a different sexual orientation or if you have a mental illness.
Watching Matt singing makes me proud to be an American.
Patti (on left) and Dana, two sisters sharing an ice cream
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