Because the Deaf Kid Might Be a Jerk

My husband and I are currently watching season 14 of the Amazing Race (casttv.com and youtube are great if you missed prior seasons of some of your favorite shows). One of the featured teams is a deaf kid and his mom. Initially we were rooting hard for this team but we aren't liking them so much any more.

The mother totally smothers the kid (who's like 20 by the way) and refuses to accept that he might not be perfect. The kid is completely whiny and totally gossips on other teams. Well in the last episode (8 or 9 I think) the deaf kid pushed a female member of another team twice to try to get the clue before her. It was very clear the deaf kid started it and was being physical when it wasn't necessary. So of course when he is confronted him and his mom pull the deaf card.

All of the sudden they're bitching about how he's had to struggle his whole life with people making assumptions about him because he's deaf and they should be ashamed of themselves, etc. Last I checked, being deaf doesn't turn you into a saint. If this kid weren't deaf all the other teams would be calling him out for being physical when he didn't have to. But sadly I think its going to go the other way and the deaf kid will prevail.

My father was physically handicapped for my entire life. He was paralyzed, had slurred speech and was blind. There was nothing mentally wrong with him; he was one of the smartest people that I ever met. But my dad had a temper. His father was physically and emotionally abusive and a total drunk. Like a good Catholic, my dad never talked about this so he had a lot of pent up anger. My dad was an asshole sometimes. There is no doubt about it. And if he was acting like an asshole I hope someone told him that he was. I know my mom did. She wasn't disrespecting his disability. She was pointing out that he was being a jerk and rightly so.

It pisses me off that every time there is a "special" person I'm not supposed to expect anything from them. Isn't that worse? Aren't I supposed to treat them equally? So deaf people, blind people, people with kids, old people, people in wheelchairs, morbidly obese people and anyone else who thinks you get a free pass in life because it hasn't been all roses and sunshine in your life: watch out. I'm all about equal rights and if your an asshole I'm going to treat you like every other asshole out there.