The Czech media have a special place in my heart.
 I have been following their evolution ever since I left Prague in the mid-1990s.
That’s why I was delighted to see an article in the weekend magazine of Hospodarske Noviny about children with disabilities… a topic which used to be taboo in Czech society… an ugly hangover from the previous regime and its tacky iconography of proletarian heroes with perfect bodies.
Unfortunately, my delight did not last for very long…
My jaw dropped as soon as I began reading the subheading:”…Jaké to je, když se do normální rodiny narodí někdo nenormální (What happens, when someone not normal is born to a normal family).
I couldn’t believe the language. The fact that it is still being used is a slap in the face of people like my friend Milena Černà, who since the fall of the Berlin Wall has been campaigning for the acceptance of the rights of disabled children and adults.
Milena manages Vybor dobrè vůle, a foundation originally set up by Olga Havlova (Vaclav Havel’s first wife) and has been doing heroic work for the integration of the disadvantaged.
The article I read is a sign that something is moving… but we are clearly not there yet.
May be we should drop the word “normal” altogether…
I can highly recommend “The Four Walls of My Freedom”, a book in which Donna Thomson offers us a new perspective on being human… one that goes beyond “normality”.
|
|
