What is "normal"?
Normal is what an individual person makes of the concept. To me, normal is everyone. Each person has their own quirks, and that makes each of us unique. Why would we all want to be the same?
Differences should be something people not only learn from, but admire in one another. Having the ability to critically think and reason, as well as the ability to have and feel emotions are just a few of the things that make human beings unique from anything else on the planet.
Why would we want to ruin or change these things with a concept of overall "normality"?
I think the concept of normal ruins our society. When we all think in terms of normal, we end up making judgments about others based on one or two choices they make. Or simply their appearances. We force our thoughts and views on each other, before even considering another way of the same thought, or another way to preform the same action.
Normal is just a concept. Normal should not be used to describe people. I find this to be prominent in general society, but with the disabled population as well. And this is where the problem lays. People with disabilities are just as normal as someone without. Society tends to look at someone with a disability and say they are not "normal" because of the way they look, the way they act, or the way they preform an action.
But these people are "normal." Sure, they have to adapt to life in ways that someone without a disability wouldn't have too, but that doesn't make them weird or scary. They are normal in their own unique ways. The way someone with a disability preforms an action, or acts out because of their disability, doesn't make them any less normal than someone who acts out or preforms a certain way due to their weight, or lack of knowledge, or the circumstances of the situation in which they are in.
With the new year quickly approaching, everyone should take a moment to consider their definition of normal, and why they feel that way. This is not to say that you should all change your minds on the way that you feel, but rather I suggest you challenge yourself to expand your human abilities. Dig into yourself, and examine your thoughts critically. You mind find that through this, you change yourself and your way of thinking that will benefit society, rather than hurt it.
