Evening star., 1935-12-23
Shielding
Deficiency
Not Wise
Child Should Be Pre-
pared and Taught to
Master Handicaps.
BY ANGELO PATRI.

I KNOW Of no way to shield the
odd child from the suffering his
oddity brings upon him. We are so
constituted that anything that marks
US as different because Of q physical
or mental failure, even in the slightest
degree, gives us secret pain. Only
those who have known this ache In
the heart can have any. notion of it,
poignancy. The odd child suffers. He
feels like the Ugly Duckling who was
molested and hid himself among the
friendly bushes on q lonely shore.
Lucky for him II his difference be-
comes glory, miracle indeed.
How can we help this odd one? One
thing We must accept squarely. 1t is
4 impossible to hide his deficiency from
/ him. If he is lame, or suffering from
a sense defect, or cannot learn to read.
or is actually mentally defective. he
feels his lack acutely and suffers
keenly. To escape he would have TO be
unconscious. 1t is useless to try to
gloss over his trouble. pat him kindly
and say, Cheer up. You're all right"
He isn't all right. The only time he
will be able to cheer up a little is when
he feels some degree Of success COM
ing to him in his efforts to master his
handicap.
When you deal with such a child
the first thing to do is to have him
examined by an approved authority,
specialist who understands the child's
peculiar difficulties. II it is possible
to train the child to master his defect
the specialist will outline treatment
and supervise it. II it is not possible
then he will tell you so, and you will
not nag the child in an effort to COM
pei him to do the impossible. II the
hearing defect is permanent then the
child must be trained as a deaf child.
Permanent defects must be accepted
and the child trained in such fashion
as to enable him to live as happily as
possible under the circumstances. It
I is cruel to try to force such children TO
| do the same work, accomplish the
same ends as their more fortunate
mates.
/ The situation for such children, the
/ permanently handicapped ones, is not
hopeless. There are so many phases
Of their lives that are still normal and
waiting to be developed. There is a
world of possibility in the fact that we
have two sides to our brains, two eyes,
two ears, two legs. II one side Is
counted out there is always hope OF
the others coming to the rescue. The
specialist knows and can help.
IaN, VTTN
playing with her little daughter in the
park, and she stopped to talk about the
little one. This child had been born
without a right hand.
"I wanted to prepare her for the
time when she would have to meet
two-handed children who might ask
her what was the matter with her
hand" the mother said. II have
trained her to accept the fact that she
was different and to say so without
any to-do about it. The specialist at
the hospital has been very kind, and
has shown me how to teach her to do
things with one hand. She is to have
an artificial hand soon, and we will
train her to use it. AS soon as she is
ready she will go to school along with
the other children. I hope they Will
not be hard on her"
They would not be. Children who
accept their difficulties and are strong
in spite of them, win the admiration
of their mates. 1t is only the help
less weakling that they peck and
chase. Accept the trouble. face it
squarely: never hide it, and you will
help the handicapped child.