Back when I was in my early 20s, I worked with kids who had
cerebral palsy. Some could not talk. It was at the cerebral
palsy center in Union. Volunteered for about a year inbetween
jobs.
I set up the computers there. I set up equipment with big
buttons and straw inputs and stuff like that. I learned the
hardware and taught some of the teachers and kids how to use the
stuff as best I was able to without a degree in that stuff... at
least until the teachers could take over.
These kids? They were smart.
One boy who was 21 year old and ready to leave the program, I
helped teach him how to type. One day, he typed a letter to his
mother. Perfect spelling. Perfect grammar. A perfect letter.
He never wrote before because his hands couldn't manage to hold
a pen stead enough, even when he used one hand to steady the
other.
But for some reason, he WAS able to direct a finger at the keys
using the other hand to steady it, with a loud PUNCH noise.
It took him all day and it was a wonderful letter, thanking his
mom for putting up with his disability for all those years and
telling her she can let him go off to a half-way house and that
he'll be fine.
Now I'm not comparing cerebral palsy to gorillas, but your own
ability to understand/not understand somebody is a
communications issue, NOT a knowledge or intelligence issue.
[sorry for the soapbox... it's just something I'm passionate
about]
