Differently abled

In some sense I like the phrase 'differently-abled'... of course, not as a label for those physically or mentally challenged but as to what it conveys.  I certainly am not for the phrase being used as a sort of gradation of people with 'normal' being the standard of measurement.

The phrase 'differently-abled' conveys the fact that just because a child or a person has a different set of thought pattern or does not think or act in the way that most people do, is not less than others.  It is just that the child is different.  In a sense, each one of us is different!  In fact, it can be viewed as meaning that the 'normal' people have not yet found out ways and means of comprehending this 'different' thought or guiding principle.  For all one knows, those labelled 'differently-abled' may be far more gifted that most people, only not recognised and acknowledged.  What if the existing standard measuring unit of 'normalcy' is itself flawed?  What if the goalposts set up by the society and the times are themselves off mark?

Intelligence is not something that can be graded merely on the basis of doing things 'right' or getting reality right - least of all, scoring high marks.