Potential | Zina Jawadi

Over the summer, my family and I sojourned in Egypt.  One day, while my mother and I were shopping for groceries, my mother stumbled upon an orphanage close to the place we were staying.  The building housed forty orphans, several of whom had disabilities.  I started visiting the orphans and was deeply moved by them, yet at the same time I was reminded of how fortunate and blessed Americans are.  One of the orphans I met was a five-year old boy named Adel who had autism and other mental challenges.  I was appalled to hear the terms used by the caregivers to describe Adel’s disability, especially his presumed “low IQ.”  All my encounters with Adel proved that he was nothing short of intelligent.  For example, Adel pointed to me and said, “Zina, look, there’s a man out in the balcony over there,” and surely enough, he was correct.  He was able to articulate his thoughts with remarkable ease and accuracy.  Having a disability does not mean that Adel had a “low IQ.”  I was truly saddened to see Adel’s potential being completely underestimated.  Distressingly, Adel is not alone.  Millions of other people in less fortunate countries are completely underestimated for different reasons, including disabilities.  While many people without disabilities pity, patronize, and preclude those with disabilities, people with disabilities are most often just as smart and intelligent as those without.  People like Adel will thrive if given the opportunity and the benefit of the doubt rather than just being labeled as a “low IQ.”