The thing that bugs me the most is that our society seems to think that people who are different are considered worse. Just because somebody has a different color of skin, or has a brain wired differently than other people, or is interested romantically in people of their gender doesn’t make that person worse, it just means that they’re different. We are all, as my mother would say, “gloriously unique.”

People need to accept that people who are different are just like them. They have feelings, pasts, hopes, dreams, friends, and lovers just like “normal” people do. They know what it feels like to be loved and to belong. They also know something the “normal” person does not: what it’s like to live with a stigma or stereotype.

The ones whose differences are under the surface have the burden of hiding their secret and the fear that they will be rejected if their difference is found out. They have to figure out who it would be safe to tell and who not to tell. If they happen to make a mistake, they know they will have to live with the consequences.

Those who have differences that are more obvious have to deal with being shunned, teased, and tormented. Jokes and stories that have racist and sexist snubs against people still exist in the United States. Some people may say there aren’t, but I’ve seen that they’re there. An example is one day in class one of my professors shared a story with a snub against Chinese people. He imitated someone who was Chinese in a nasty way and definitely gave the impression that he was putting down Chinese people. People with physical disabilities or severe mental ones are picked on and bullied mercilessly. They know it, too. Just because somebody has a physical disability or a severe mental one does not mean that they don’t know when someone is being mean to them.

Which is worse? I don’t know. I really don’t think that it’s about better or worse. I do know, though, that both kinds of difference are hard to live with. I know this through what I’ve seen, heard, and read, but also through personal experience. I have a learning disability called Asperger’s Syndrome and have seen how even teachers sometimes have to be nagged to make accommodations for a person’s needs. My History professor was like that, and unfortunately, History is not a strong subject for me. If a student who has a learning disability that doesn’t affect their intelligence too much fails in college, it’s not because they’re not smart enough. It’s because they couldn’t get what they needed in terms of accommodations.

When will people understand that everybody, no matter whether they’re straight or gay, disabled or undisabled, black or white, male or female, rich or poor, deserves respect? When will we as a nation be able to say, as my church does, that we accept people “without regard to race, age, sex, economic condition, disability, or sexual orientation”? Only when people are able to see what I have believed all along. A person who is different is just that. They’re not better or worse than “normal” people, they’re just different. We as a nation need to accept that, have it beaten into our brains if need be. When and/or if we do, I believe with all my heart that the world will be a better place.