He's blind, so what?

On New Year's Eve, my husband set his hair on fire accidentally while lighting firecrackers. He holds the fuse next to his ear, lights the lighter, listens for the fuse to hiss, and throws it. Instead of a hissing noise, he heard a roaring noise and realized he'd caught his hair on fire. He put it out and you can't even tell - no lasting damage.

I shared the story, with a humorous bent, and people got incredibly upset. Analogies were made "Just like they would let a child light fireworks, I shouldn't have let my husband light them either." My husband has the capacity of a small child? No, he's a grown man with legal rights. I don't "let" him do anything, he makes his own decisions.

If he wants to set his hair on fire, it's his God-given right, just as it's his right to light fireworks, play with power tools, use knives, cook, and do electrical work. My dishwasher works great - because Ron fixed a lousy splice and bad ground years ago. Everytime I need it, I turn it on and it works. Because Ron does electrical work.

The cats enjoy their condo because he does carpentry work (not so much these days), and every day I sit in a chair he assembled a few years ago. Guess what? They all work fine.

Some people continued to be outraged. Others didn't see what the fuss was about. What it came to, I feel, was as simple as this: the average person thinks that someone who's blind, or otherwise disabled, is incapable of making their own choices. They should be wrapped in a protective cocoon and not allowed to do anything "dangerous".

That's not what America's about. America is about independence, self-determination, and the God-given right to set one's hair on fire if they so choose, lighting firecrackers on New Years Eve.