Pets and disabilities

The other day, I took my youngest to the park and beach near our house for a little afternoon swimming as we near the end of Summer. And lovely surprise, it was the Humane Society's "Adopt a Pet" day. They had cats and dogs for sale, in cages or tied to trees for us to touch and talk to.

You see, we're in pet withdrawal living at Grandma's house for the Summer and this next school year, while I have surgery and do rehabilitation for my hearing. At our house in Africa, we have 2 cats and 2 dogs, all of which are female, so we have a regular rotation of kittens and puppies to enjoy. We love it and never have trouble finding people to give them away to. Cats are great for keeping the mice population to a minimum, and dogs are great guards. The problem out there is that we don't have great vets; they're used to treating donkeys, sheep, and cows. Who in their right mind would put money into vaccinations or care for a dog or a cat?! Most of our neighbors think we're a little nutty to feed our animals the same that they eat everyday, and that we pet them and play with them.

Another problem with keeping pets out there is that they sometimes get killed by snakebite, or people looking for free meat for their evening meal. We've had cats wander off, never to return, and our friends say that certain people groups have no problem with setting traps and eating them. I don't think they noticed the cat collars...

So, we have to keep our pets with a bit of an "open hand" mentality; don't get too attached to them, but enjoy them while you have them. So, we enjoyed the Humane Society's offerings for a few minutes, realizing that we couldn't take on a pet at this time.

And then on the way home, I saw a mostly blind neighbor lady out for a walk with her assistive dog, and it made me think about some recent conversations I've had with other deaf people about the benefits of having a disability dog. Of course, I'd love to use my deafness as an excuse to get a pet, but then we'd have to move out of Grandma's house.

But I pondered the problem of what a blind person does when out for a walk with their dog and the dog, umm, moves its bowels. Up and down the street are signs saying, "Leave only footprints", implying that pet owners must clean up their dog's leavings. But how would a blind person be able to do that with any amount of self-dignity? Perhaps you'd know the rhythm of your dog and sense that it had paused to do it's thing, but would you be bending over, feeling around for the warm, smelly pile? This must be terribly embarrassing, and it gives me a new compassion for the challenges of disabled people, especially now that I am one.

I have enjoyed beautiful bike rides this Summer, now that I've gotten the courage to go out and not fear traffic so much. You have to learn how to use the crossing signals and be very alert. But my deaf challenges and embarrassments have to do with trying to enter conversations with people. I want to follow what they're saying, but get bored with just standing there smiling while hubby does all the talking. I miss the jokes; I miss the details. Once in awhile I think I've followed it and have some witty story to tell, and afterwards realize that they are being polite at trying to figure out what that has to do with it... and then the pity smile.

I know that even when I was a hearing person, sometimes I couldn't think of a thing to say, or that no witty comebacks were forthcoming in certain situations, and I'd be embarrassed at my lack of social synchronization, but generally I felt I could be me. Being deaf certainly takes that away, and is one of my challenges that I'm hoping to overcome with my cochlear implant. I just need to remember that hearing or deaf, or whatever a person's personal challenges might be, we all have them, and we need to have respect for each other and have compassion in those embarrassing times.