latimes-gimp-commentary

Oscar Winners' Reactions Provide Lessons in Acceptance

By PEGGY OLIVERI

                                             On March 26, I did what millions of others around
                                        the world did: I watched the 72nd annual Academy
                                        Awards show on television. When the nominations for
                                        short documentary were announced, my attention was
                                        piqued. One of the documentaries was titled "King
                                        Gimp." "Gimp" is a name used affectionately among the
                                        disabled community. Being one myself, I was interested
                                        to hear about a film that had been made about another
                                        person with a disability.
                                             "And the Oscar goes to . . . ." Suddenly I see this
                                        guy with cerebral palsy falling out of his wheelchair in
                                        front of millions! I was mortified. He was shaming me at
                                        the Oscars, and I wasn't even there. A fellow gimp out
                                        of control!
                                             Then I stopped myself. "Wait a minute. How is this
                                        any different than what Roberto Benigni did last year
                                        when he won?"
                                             "Oh, yeah, but Benigni was in control of his body,
                                        this guy isn't."
                                             But I don't think Benigni's body made him jump
                                        over people's heads and scare them half to death. It
                                        was Benigni's spontaneous reaction in the excitement of
                                        the moment of winning an Oscar! So why couldn't that
                                        be the same for this guy, Dan Keplinger? Benigni jumps
                                        over people's heads, this guy falls on the floor. He was
                                        excited! A documentary he wrote about himself had
                                        just won an Oscar--that's something to get excited
                                        about.
                                             But I wasn't satisfied with my answer. "Why didn't
                                        he strap himself into his chair so he wouldn't fall out of
                                        it?" I wondered.
                                             Was I suggesting that he "confine" himself to his
                                        wheelchair? That might not have worked out so well.
                                        Instead of falling out of his chair, he might have toppled
                                        it over himself, proving to the world that he was indeed
                                        confined to his wheelchair.
                                             From what I saw, he didn't hurt himself or cause
                                        injury to anybody else. No, it may not have been
                                        dignified behavior, but spontaneity is all about being in
                                        the moment.
                                             Well, this dialogue in my head was going nowhere
                                        so I decided to look at the show again. Thank God the
                                        camera panned back to him. Keplinger was back in his
                                        chair. His eyes were glowing! To me he was the
                                        handsomest man in the room at that moment. I hadn't
                                        seen the documentary; I didn't know if it was politically
                                        correct. But I decided that I wasn't going to let my
                                        prejudices get in the way of Keplinger's moment to
                                        shine. I was proud of my gimp brother.
                                             But that wasn't the highlight of the evening for me.
                                        That came when Hilary Swank accepted her Oscar as
                                        best actress. Her final comment was, "I pray that
                                        someday we will not only accept our differences, but
                                        celebrate them."
                                             These are powerful words. I dream that some day
                                        the world at large will celebrate the disabled
                                        community's differences. I realize that if I really own
                                        these words myself, perhaps I could help make that
                                        dream a reality.

Peggy Oliveri is a freelance writer living in Long
Beach. She can be reached at dacha@Earthlink.net.