Halloween Fun or Not?
Halloween is being celebrated across the world. It’s a pagan holiday, often to be believed to be one of the oldest holidays of the world. Many people either love it or hate it. Sometimes it can be tied to one’s religious beliefs or it can be from a frightening experience or conversely an exhilarating one; or even from a very painful circumstance.
I’ve never been fond of the holiday and only really remember ‘trick or treating’ once when I was in early elementary school. My sister and I, without any particular costume, wore simply a paper bag over our heads. As an adult, my negative feelings for the holiday has been complicated with the horror elements which have been added in our culture through ghoulish and dark witch and warlock costumes, music, movies and even behaviors which have been deadly.
All that said, my children have enjoyed the holiday celebrated in public schools in their elementary years. Parents were invited, as all the children and teachers paraded in their costumes. Following the parade were lots of treats in the individual classrooms, which were decorated in the festive orange and black, cobweb, and spidery ornamentations.
A Disability Element
I admit, the complications a disabled child might have, relative to the holiday, didn’t really occur to me and possibly to many others who have not been intimately associated with the disability population.
One person shared the story of how she, her sister and several friends were ‘trick or treating’ when she was a pre-teen. Things were going well as they walked together, knocked on doors and were given treats. Upon greeting one lady, when she opened the door, the lady greeted each of her visitors by guessing what each participate was, via their costume.
The woman was delighted with the Pretty Princess, the Little Red Riding Hood, Raggedy Ann, the classic clown and then looked at the final little girl and said, ‘Oh my. We have a Quasimodo. How original!’ A hush fell over the children, as they tried to process what that meant. Whatever it meant, it clearly wasn’t a compliment. I admit, I had to look it up. It referred to a grotesque hunch-backed character in Victor Hugo’s Notre-Dame de Paris novel.
This child was forever scarred by this verbal attack, not because of the costume she wore, but because she was disabled and the greeter at the door was horribly unkind. She looked different not only at Halloween, but every other day of the year. This was not by choice but was her reality. The woman’s words were cruel and drove the idea of her ‘differences’ stabbing in her heart.
It’s About The Costume
Costumes are central to the Halloween celebrations. Usually they are cute, silly, scary, idolizing, or funny. Sometimes costumes require props to make them complete like a cane or other aparatus. But when someone ignores the ‘costume’ and makes unkind remarks, it’s not funny, or cute. It’s not silly, or part of recognizing any kind of celebrity or icon idol. It’s cruel and impactful on children and adults who have disabilities.
They want nothing more than to be accepted by their peers and not be identified by whatever disability they happen to have. Perhaps this will be the year you will have the opportunity to recognize what’s ‘behind the costume’ and see the ‘abilities’ rather than any ‘dis-ability.’
Photo Credit: https://www.dreamstime.com/photos-images/wheelchair-halloween-costume.html
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