Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 7620 Plough Quarterly • Winter 2015 dangerous things we face today. None of us is perfect. I’ve got my scars, you’ve got yours. But people with disabilities have taught me to recog- nize my own imperfections and to accept them. And through that they have taught me to learn to love myself as I am. This is one of the tough- est things people struggle with today. I think it helps explain much of the drug abuse, alcohol abuse, domes- tic abuse, and suicide we see today. People are unable to love themselves, so they strike out in other ways. People with disabilities show us the value in our own life. This is a beau- tiful thing they give us. And it’s not just children with dis- abilities who teach us. You go into a nursing home and talk with the residents and you dis- cover the same thing. In speaking about your practice you’ve sometimes referred to “Grand Canyon moments.” Can you give me an example? In modern medicine, you’re often jerked about in three directions at once. Your pager is going off, your secretary is calling, the administrator wants something or other, and you’re madly trying to meet everyone’s needs and then something like this will happen: I had a young woman in my office with cerebral palsy whose arms were all pulled up against her. She asked me for Botox injections on her arms. “I can do that,” I told her. Botox for someone with spasticity and contractures helps relax the muscles. After I administered the injections she turned to me and said, “Thank you, doctor. You know why I asked you to do this?” I said, “No, why?” She looked at me and said, “So I could hug my mom.” Right there everything else going on around me faded away. It’s like you’ve turned around and you’re standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon looking out over this expanse that no words could ever describe. And you realize you are standing in the presence of the glory of God. And you say to yourself, “What did I do to deserve this?” I think it’s God’s way of telling me, “Hold on a minute. Let me tell you what’s really important.” You’ve suggested that people with disabilities have something of great value to contribute to our society. What are we missing out on if we try to shield ourselves from the effects of disability? God forbid, if we were to rid ourselves of our special-needs children we might as well just live in a black-and-white world instead of full color, because we would be taking away the beauty inherent to life. Get rid of the blue sky we’re enjoying today. Get rid of the gorgeous fall colors we’re seeing outside – just make them shades of grey. That’s what we’d be doing. People with disabilities share amazing things with us. As I said, they live closer to the cross. They understand better. They know they have a disability and they don’t try to be something they’re not. People with Down syndrome know they have Down syndrome, they know they don’t have your intellect. It’s okay with them. They’re happy where they are. They tell us to accept our own imperfections, our need for for- giveness, our need for redemption, our need for being ­ recreated. Through this we become better people. We become more satisfied. We become more whole. What a wonderful thing to reach the end of your life and think, “I’ve had a chance in this life to become more whole because I have spent time with people with disabilities.” Interview by Joe Keiderling on October 3, 2014. Watch the video on www.plough.com. If God is gracious enough to let me get to heaven, I will recognize Jesus because his will be the only disabled body up there.