Barry: The New Normal

I just met a guy named Barry. I’m sure he has a last name but for simplicity sake we’re just going to stick to first names. He came into Full City Coffee Shop off 13^th and High. He looked very familiar. You see, when Barry smiles the whole room lights up. It’s not just his smile it’s his eyes. They are those eyes that sparkle and get all scrunched up in the corners as if they are attached to his mouth and can’t help but shine when his face lights up.

Barry is hearing impaired. I know that because I asked a young woman (caregiver) who was with him. And I noticed that Barry’s language was less about noise and more about graceful, simple, understandable movements that reminded me of art rather than chatter. I recognized Barry from a banquet we went to the other night for the Oregon Supported Living Program. It’s a program you will be hearing much more about in the future. OSLP works with folks who have disabilities.

There is something amazing about Barry and people like him. The world looks at them and says they are not normal. But who can really say that. What is normal? Is it normal to be happy? Is it normal to take the rest of us at face value? Is it normal to trust, to smile and to say exactly what’s on your mind no matter what the consequences may bring?

What if we were to talk with Barry (sign) and ask him if living with a hearing issue is normal for him? He’d probably answer “yes”. I think the rest of us, who think we have the right to define normal, just don’t get it. We look at Barry and those like him and think less-than when in all truth there’s something inside us that wishes we were that free.

Perhaps it’s time to redefine Normal. But when we sit down to do it, let’s put Barry and some of his friends on the redefinition committee.