Grandfathers are the protectors of their grandchildren. They teach valuable lessons to us and show us how to be kind, loving, and great people. Grandparents take us under their wing. My grandfather did all of these things, however, there was something a little different about him compared to most grandparents.
My grandfather was in a bad accident resulting in both of his arms being amputated from the biceps down. This happened way before I was born, so I never had a chance to see him with his full arms, but the photos of it were alarming to me. He had body-powered hooks as his mobility device, and that was what I was used to seeing him using. Seeing my grandfather was so normal to me. As I got a little older, I was noticing more differences between him and other people. I was more aware of these differences and saw the way we were treated. I no longer had the childhood shield, I was faced with real life experiences. This is when I realized the inequality my grandfather and others with disabilities faced.
I loved my grandfather and I couldn’t understand why other people would look at him differently. I realized why he could park in the very front of parking lots. People would not understand how he hugged me. I noticed how many people stared at us and would whisper to one another when they saw him. We went mini golfing once and he was absolutely incredible at it. His hooks gripped onto the golf club perfectly, and his putts were always the best. He even got a hole in one. I was absolutely amazed that he was so good. Not because of his disability, but because I struggled so much with mini golf but he made it look so easy. I noticed some people looking at us and staring. It wasn’t so much at first, but it became more and more uncomfortable as the day went on. They weren’t admiring how good at mini golf he was, they were staring at his hooks. They focused on his disability rather than the fact that he was beating me in mini golf.
Ever since his passing in 2019, I rethink how he changed my perspective on disability. He didn’t let people tell him what he could and couldn’t do. He was super passionate abouting fishing and hunting, so much so that he bought property connected to our yard so that he could hunt and then see us. Every couple of extremely early mornings a week, he and his friend would drive an hour from his house to ours to hunt. He would hunt for hours. Then, when my brother and I woke up and came downstairs, he would have a cup of coffee in his hook and be talking to my mom about his morning. He showed how passionate he was and how he persevered through his disability.
Now that I am in college, I take disability classes that educate me to the oppressions that he faced in his life. Although he was blessed to be alive, his whole life changed and ways he would live shifted to something he had never expected. I learned about how medical officials could have treated him after this accident. I learned about the names people could have called him. I do wish he were still here so I can share what I am learning. I would ask him what he experienced. Instead of being with him, I learn about him.