tan weilian: Abled or Disabled?

Project superstar had just ended. It was one of the nicest shows i ever watched, given that i only watch two shows. The first is tian long ba bu and the second is of course project superstar.

Perhaps why i watch superstar in the first place is because my mom told me there is a blind busker who went for the audition. And from that onward, i followed practically every episodes. Although it was the blind busker, weilian who induced me to watch the show, but gradually, it were the pretty contestant that followed be through the whole show.

While i am watching this age old question surfaced again in front of me. Should we treat those who are disabled as disabled or abled body. And, are the disabled themseleves want us to treat them as abled or as disabled.

The meaning of disabled i think, is one who can't perform what an abled bodied person can do. The definition of an abled bodied is a wide subject. An impotent man may be classified as disabled by his wife but if he still can walk around unaided by a walking stick, then he is abled.

I keep on thinking that if i bump into a disabled guy, should i see him as being abled. I think sometimes, the disabled hope people to view them as abled bodies but yet, they would want to reserved those special rights that a disabled bodied usually have.

Take for instance the MRT lift. My rationale to the lift is that, how many disabled people actually use the lift in such a way that it would fully maximise the lift potential passengers carrying capabilities. I believe the lift is almost underutilised if we only allow people who are disabled to use it.

However, you could see in the forum of the papers, that disabled people complained that abled body are vying with them, are fighting with them for the lift. So, if they want people, in practical to view them as abled bodied, why go put a tag on themselves by themselves that they are in theory, disabled? I find this totally absurd.

Another piece of article that caught my eye is this disabled guy who said abled bodied guy are hogging the disabled toilet cubicle. I mean, where is the level playing field?

As an abled bodied, i need to wait for my turn to pee, so why can't you?

Back to the person in limelight, tan weilian. The critics says people vote due to sympathy. So do they and can you blame them? It is this tag of disabled that will always remain disabled enable the disabled to truly have the benefits of their own cubicle and their own elevators.

p/s: i may sound crude. but isn't it true? I only want to pass across a message that if you want people to treat you of what you want people to treat you as, then you must treat yourself of what you want people to treat you as first. No more, no less.