"Inspiration"

 Today I stumbled upon a story about an "inspirational" young man who proved that anyone can be capable of anything if they are simply believed in.

What, you ask, did this kid accomplish that made him so "inspirational?"

He accomplished a "normal" rite of passage. He received a government-issued document that the vast majority of individuals end up acquiring sooner or later. He...got his driver's license.

That's it? you ask.

That fact that said young man happens to have Down syndrome really shouldn't be too relevant. Back during my spring semester, as many may know, I took a "Disability Studies" course. There was an interesting discussion in this class on disabled people showing how "inspirational" disabled can be...when all that they've done is accomplish a normal, everyday task. One reading told of a paraplegic girl who would always feel extreme hurt and frustration whenever people told her that she was so "inspirational" for being able to perform mundane tasks. Another reading included the picture of a man born without hands-who learned to drink beverages using his feet. The discussion on that picture was deep. Our instructor had us look at that picture and think..."at the end of the day...what is this really? When you really get down to it, all this truly is is a man performing a simple, everyday task...drinking a cup of tea." So he's doing it a little differently than most do it. So what? (This also goes to show that there are things that many individuals thought to be "disabled" *can* do that "abled" people *can't* do. Try using your feet to drink a cup of tea!)

But back to the driver's license. This kid had everyone cheering, saying "this is proof that anyone can overcome anything" and "if you believe in yourself you can do everything" (and of course there was great praise for his parents on "not giving up on him.") And what is it really, at the end of the day? Just a kid getting his driver's license. That's all. Yes, he happens to have an extra chromosome. Yes, there are some limitations that he has-but are those really *his* limitations, or restraints that society has placed on him?

Even I, when I pull out my driver's license, have had people saying how "inspirational" I am. Or other times, they lose their minds. And ironically, I have said that in many ways I would actually trust an autistic teen to drive before I would a neurotypical teen! I mean, really think about it? Who's the one more likely to text and drive? Who's the one more likely to have cars full of screaming kids? 

At the end of the day, it's an everyday, government issued document. That's all. Simply saying that I am qualified to operate certain machinery. That's all. And I hope, that for the sake of this young man with Down syndrome, that people realize that all he did isn't anything that special. I certainly do wish him luck, and hope that he himself learns to follow his own path-and not let society imposed restrictions hold him back.