Before coming to UMBC, I thought that “disabled people” needed special treatment or extra help. but this changed when I came to umbc. During my first semester here, I met a paralyzed guy on one side of his body. To be exact, he has hemiplegia, a symptom involving one-sided paralysis. one day, he asked me to go on a walk, and I was very hesitant but said yes at the end. I tried to go on the most accessible walk possible, which was difficult because UMBC is very hilly and has many stairs. As we were walking, I tried to redirect the hike multiple times to make it easier for my friend. Suddenly my friend asked to go up the stairs to see the skyline of Baltimore city. At the moment, I was not sure what to say. I accidentally said are you sure you want to go. He was kind and said yeah, I like the exercise. As we slowly walked up the stairs, I noticed my friend getting out of breath. We kept going to the top, where the performing arts building was. At that moment, I realized that even though he struggled to walk, he never gave up and asked for help. I realized that “disabled people” are self-efficient and will ask for help when needed; people should not look at them any less differently because they can do everything everyone else can.

On the other hand, I was getting late at night a few weeks ago, and someone in front of me was trying to get a drink cup, and she was struggling and had dropped a few paper cup lids over to the floor. She asked me to help her grab a cup and a straw within a few seconds. I was glad to help her and help her pick up the things that fell. My idea of “disabled people” has changed over the years from wow I should be helping them all the time to wow they can do everything by themself and I should help but when they needed it. My asking can make them feel ashamed of being the way they are, but they did n