And if I only could...

I'd make a deal with God,
And I'd get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
Be running up that building.
Say, If I only could, oh...


Picture two people at the bottom of a hill...

Can they both make it up the hill?

You don't know. I haven't given you enough information.

OK... I will tell you that one person is standing up and the other person is in a wheelchair.

Can they both make it up the hill?

At this juncture, you may venture a guess based on your prejudice. You may make assumptions. You may be the type to think, "the bloke in the wheelchair can't make it up the hill alone!", you may the type to think, "disabled people can do anything normal can do; they just need more work or a different approach!" or you may be the type to think, "if the able bodied person helps the person in the wheelchair, then they can both get up the hill together!" You may be type to think any number of other things... you may want more information about the two people.

The man standing up may be a pregnant woman, a ninety year old with arthritis, an athlete, a child... The man in the wheelchair may be a pregnant woman, a ninety year old with arthritis, an athlete, a child... with Parkinson's...

Without more information about the two people at the bottom of the hill, you cannot know if they can both make it up the hill.

And HOW you get your information matters about as much as the information itself. The man in the wheelchair may be muscular and the man standing may be frail... but the muscular man may have taken a nasty fall yesterday and his shoulder hurts like hell and he can barely push his chair on a flat surface let alone up a hill... the scrawny bloke may have just taken a whole bottle of amphetamines and be able to run up the hill in a second flat... only to die of massive coronary failure at the top.

So now, for the sake of this argument, let's say we've solved the issue of whether or not both people can get up the hill. Let's pretend they both can. Let's pretend that they both got to the top because the wheelchair bound person was either pushed, dragged or crawled on his stomach. They're both at the top of the hill. Wheelchair dude should be happy, no? Yay! You're up the hill, mate! Look happy!

Ever thought that maybe HOW you get there is even more important than why, whether or not you can get there or getting there at all? It's hard to feel great about being up a hill if you had nothing to do with getting there. If you were pushed, maybe it's not that bad... but if you had to crawl on your stomach? What if you were dragged unceremoniously by an arm or by your hair? How glad would you be to be up the hill? How likely would you to take it well if someone told you: "You're up the hill! Just be happy! STOP QUESTIONING IT!".

Now picture two people entering a social situation. Picture them at a big party with 500 guests. Picture two people having an argument. Picture two women meeting and falling in love with two men. Picture two people defending their children's interest to a school official...

Can they both make it up the hill?

You don't know, I haven't given you enough information.

So I will tell you that one is neuro-typical (normal) and the other is Autistic.

Can they both make it up the hill?

Do you still want to make assumptions?

Fool On The Hill
(The Beatles)

Day after day, alone on the hill,
The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still.
But nobody wants to know him,
They can see that he's just a fool.
And he never gives an answer .....

But the fool on the hill,
Sees the sun going down.
And the eyes in his head,
See the world spinning around.

Well on his way, his head in a cloud,
The man of a thousand voices, talking perfectly loud.
But nobody ever hears him,
Or the sound he appears to make.
And he never seems to notice .....

But the fool on the hill,
Sees the sun going down.
And the eyes in his head,
See the world spinning around.

And nobody seems to like him,
They can tell what he wants to do.
And he never shows his feelings,

But the fool on the hill,
Sees the sun going down.
And the eyes in his head,
See the world spinning around.