[A man wearing the now familiar flight-suit sits at one of the long tables in the eating area of the Mess. As he takes off his also familiar fleece-lined jacket, everyone notices that in addition to the vaguely familiar nose art painted on the back of the jacket, the name "Bandicoot" has been added over the left breast.]
Thanks for letting me bend your ear. First of all, I don't want anyone to think that I'm getting "preachy" over at Probe Discussion with my post on "Enoch's Disability." This is simply my point of view based on experience.
No, it's not me that's handicapped. It's one of my brothers...sort of. Alright, let me start at the beginning.
My brother was born deaf, 70% loss in one ear, 90% in the other. When he was eight years old, he had a coat hangar wire go through his right eye, destroying the lens. Since it was 1963, they were only able to save the eye and partial vision, but not restore any vision. Despite all this, he has no concept that he is handicapped. He has become a successful and respected senior draftsman in a large engineering firm. He's married and has three beautiful kids (who are almost Stepford-like in their goodness). He owns his own home, two cars and all sorts of fancy electronics.
To what do I attribute his success? Our parents. They never said he couldn't do something because his hearing or his vision was limited. They let him try to do whatever it was he wanted to do. It was up to him to overcome his handicaps. He was given advice on how to succeed, praised if he did succeed, and comforted if he failed. In short, he was treated no differently than the other 5 kids. And we, the other siblings, never treated him differently, because we knew no other way (and wouldn't have been allowed anyway).
It is this experience that has molded my opinion of how to handle Enoch.
Thanks for listening.
[He dons his jacket and leaves the Mess.]