Judgement Day

I often find myself only wanting to write on here in negative situations, but refrain from doing so as thats not what I wanted this to be.

Today, though, I have a topic that's neither negative nor embarassing!

I'm sitting here at work and a father and his daughter are waiting in our waiting area. His daughter, I've noticed, is about three or four, very energetic, and has Downs! It's hard for me to not sit here and watch them the whole time, as little kids with Downs are the cutest things to me! Anyway, the girl's dad noticed my noticing and I could tell he's been on the defense before. I never feel comfortable saying, "Oh, you're daughter has Downs? So does my older sister!" because there is always that chance that the kid has genetically small features, or is just innately joyful. I never risk it =)

Well, due to this, I had an epiphany: How the people around me treat people with disabilities severely impacts my relationship with them, even if they don't know it. Most of the people in my life don't know about my sister, simply because I chose in high school to stop defining myself by my family in general. Because of this, people are less inhibited when interacting with people with disabilities around me, I've found. In first grade, my best friend knew my sister, but was terrifed of her. She did not associate with disabled kids, but would force herself to with my sister. In tenth grade my best friend knew and had a laugh with (not at) the kids in the Special Ed program, without knowing about my sister. There is a man with autism (asberger's, I think) that comes into my work every day, and it's so interesting seeing my coworkers interact with him. No one here knows about my sister's disability, and not everyone is nice to the guy. At all. Some people baby him, some people talk to him like he's a human being, and some people try their best to ignore him, even though he knows all of their names, and even when he's standing right in front of them. I'm not sure if it's a personality thing, but I'm pretty sure it's because of my sister that I judge people on such 'simple' terms.