7 years ago, my grandmother went in to receive a colonoscopy. A colonoscopy is an outpatient procedure, meaning you can go home the same day.  My grandmother had health issues and dealt with chronic illnesses, so it was a routine procedure for her to get. It was so routine that my family and I didn’t even think twice when she mentioned getting it done.

We were visiting our family friends, I was sitting on the couch with my father and my brother, our family friends sitting across from us. My father had just asked them to turn down the music we were listening to and I could see the look of seriousness on his face, different from just 5 minutes ago. He’d received a call from my mother. During my grandmother’s colonoscopy, the surgeon punctured her intestines, causing blood and intestinal fluid to leak into her abdomen and eventually cardiac arrest. My grandmother’s heart had stopped three times and she had lost significant amounts of oxygen to her brain, resulting in brain damage.

The physicians didn’t believe my grandmother would make it or even that she would be where she is today. My grandmother had to relearn how to walk, how to talk, how to eat, etc.. It was through being with my grandmother through all this that I learned how unfit and unaccommodating our society really is to people with disabilities. 

As Sunaura Taylor described in “Examined Life” by Judith Butler and Sunaura Taylor, at what point between health and death are disabled people viewed as human. When people refuse to help my grandmother in the store, or the looks and comments she receives whenever we’re in public, makes me vehemently question why? Why is my grandmother dehumanized and made to seem as though she’s making other people feel uncomfortable just by existing? She is still a human being who deserves respect. Those with disabilities are human beings who deserve respect and deserve to participate in society. When will my grandmother be “allowed” to participate in society?