“Your retarded boy is lucky that you don’t put him away [in an institution]. That’s what they do in my country.” Shocked speechless by the comment and unsure if it was supposed to be a compliment or not, all I could do was stare after the elderly man as he got up and walked away from the bench we had been sitting on, side by side.
That was my first encounter with someone that viewed disability as a shameful disgrace that needed to be hidden from polite society, but sadly, it was far from my last.
Living on an island, far away from home, made me have to reach out to other military spouses for support after my son’s diagnosis.
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