Like Other People

In October 1975, Eleanora Gambino was working on her

masters degree in special education at Southern Connecticut

State University in New Haven, Connecticut. One of the

classes that she was taking was a course on cerebral palsy.

One night, a documentary entitled Like Other People was shown.

It was about two young people who had cerebral palsy and were

planning to get married. Eleanora was newly engaged to be married

to a man who has cerebral palsy. Eleanora was born with cerebral

palsy. She identified with many of the experiences the couple in the

documentary was being subjected to.

At the end of the documentary, the professor asked individuals

what they thought of the documentary. One member of the class

always arrived late and would sit near the door. He was a speech

therapist. Eleanora always arrived early and would sit near the

windows in front of the room. He never observed Eleanora walking.

At that time, she walked with the classic scissors cerebral palsy gait.

When the professor asked the speech therapist what he thought

of the documentary, he replied, The documentary is unrealistic.

Disabled people are too involved in themselves. They cannot love.