Etiquette for persons with a TAB
Recently, I heard the acronym "TAB," which stands for "temporarily able body" — something we all have based on the reality that, if we live long enough, our speed will be slowed, our vision dimmed, our strength diminished, and our mobility altered. Our bodies will not be able to do what they once did.

These tips for cross-cultural etiquette are for those of us living with a TAB. They are offered with the hope that people will listen and consider, if not reconsider, their views and opinions of people who live with disabilities. People with a disability are more like people who have a TAB than different.

Disabilities do not prevent people from living productive lives; people and structures do. Outdated attitudes, beliefs, and structures that appear to have been designed to confine, set apart, and ghettoize people who live with disabilities are what must end.

Hopefully, these tips are of help to you. We hope too that they make a place or two more open to receiving the significant gifts that are hidden from view when people who live with disabilities are not an integral part of our congregations, our circle of friends, and our families. No group is monolithic. People with disabilities are as diverse in attitude and outlook as the TAB population: A person who uses a wheelchair can be mean-spirited just as a person who uses a wheelchair can possess the gift of healing.

Continue your exploration of diversity and cross-cultural etiquette. And if you have an etiquette tip to share, contact Inez Torres Davis.