notes 4.18.2006 08:18

how i woke up with a personality

one of the western world's most powerful metaphors is plato's captives in a cave. they sit watching shadows parade across the wall, never knowing the true nature of what those objects are. not the full color, the details, the qualities. i once spent over a year one a single thread dedicated to a discussion on how someone "knows" anything.

it is tragically unfair to expect the physically or mentally challenged to act in their own behalf for their entitlements as if they were not challenged, by definition.

primary, you cannot know something that never exists, you can only reason a construct of what it might be.

second, by placing the challenged in a defensive role it becomes dissonant for them to assert a creative alternative.

third, when 'acting out', their determination and trial solution is discouraged.

the only open gateway is a caseworker or advocate. this would allow the challenged to bond with other gateways, as long as they too, remained effective.