I had never met someone who had such a great outlook on life, despite how many obstacles that they had to go through.
I loved talking with this person-- I felt that I could relate to them more than anyone.
He was able to challenge society, get people to think outside of the box.
He was in a wheelchair and had cerebal palsy.
(I had once been in a wheelchair after breaking my toe 5cm, and ended up getting surgery and having to be in a wheel chair after bed rest.
It was not until I broke my toe and was not as mobile, that I began to realize how evil the world was.
Breaking my toe and being confined to a wheelchair was probably one of the best experiences of my life. I came to realize how important our legs are, and how they are used everyday).
When I came to Hampshire, I was in a wheelchair, and I had difficulty getting around campus. I did not realize how the campus was only designed for able bodied people . This got me into disability rights and universal access activism, since I feel not enough people are aware of it, and how it effects everyone.
It was really great to meet my housemate, since he also shared a passion for disability rights as well.
He seemed to have this love for people, and was always willing to try to something new. He was at the Muslim students Iftar dinner, and he spoke about his love and passion for Sufism, a philosophical branch of Islam. When he shared his love and passion for this, this made me very happy. It reminded me of things that I am also passionate about, and how our passions radiate a sort of love towards others and humanity.
He never complained about anything, and we have never gotten into an arguement.
We shared so many interesting intellectual conversations.
He was all about challenging society, and how people looked at the world.
One thing that we had frequently talked about was sex and disability. He told me how society gives us the notion that disabled people are not sexual beings. He wanted to challenge that. He wanted people to treat him equally, and prove that he could do anything like everyone else.
I gave him the name of one of my good friends who is in a wheelchair and is writting a play about people with disabilities and sex. I really supported his ideas, since I think that it is great that we deconstruct society.
He did talk about this frequently with my other house mates, who were all female.
Many felt uncomfortable with him, since they had to help put his shirt on, or they claimed the way he "stared" at them, was in a "sexual way." I see where they were comming from, but I don't think that he meant it intentionally.
All of the anger in my apartment began to explode one night when we were talking about body shapes. He asked (and I came in late to the conversation and was tired), "why certain girls wear revealing clothing" since it may cause a man's attention. One of my housemates claimed that "you can not say that." For me, I said that one of my friends in high school challenged this, and brought up the idea how some very heavy girls would wear revealing clothing in order to break this stereotype. I know that he did not intentionally mean to ask it in a degrading way, but if I were male too, I would ask the same too. He claimed that there are biological things that men can not controll. Instead of shutting him down, I told him that I am interested in how the male mind works-- I want to understand their perspective. I feel that if a man says the wrong thing, then it is considered an offense. I thought that the conversation went well, and it was not until the next night did the girls want to discuss with me about what happened, and how they wanted him to leave, since they felt that he was "sexually harassing them".
When I asked them about having a mediation (since personally I feel the only way things can get solved and can we understand where each side is coming from is through mediation), one of them (who was a trained mediator in high school) claimed that " you don't have mediations with people who sexually harass you."
I am standing up for my friend in a situation in which people wrongly interpreted and accussed him of things that he did not do or mean to do.
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