You know, these experiences aren't too different from those of people whose metabolism, mental processes or whatever are a little off the beaten track. They get ignored, neglected and put down, too.

Was talking with a friend this morning who has been told over and over again that "she's crazy" because her medical problems are both severe and hard to diagnose. For that matter, my weakness due to chronic iron deficiency was treated as psychosomatic until after I had my heart transplant, when suddenly the doctors had to pay a whole lot of attention to my various problems....

There is a certain middle-of-the-road mentality that just devalues anything that's a little difficult to deal with (such as someone needing to learn to stay on pitch) or a little unusual (such as a woman with a bass or tenor voice.) People with this mentality don't want to be bothered with anyone or anything complex, or that takes a little extra effort or intelligence to understand and work with.

One thing that makes the folk music community so incredibly rewarding for me is that most of us value and respect individual differences, rather than ignoring, excluding, neglecting, or putting down the people who aren't standing squarely in the middle of the herd.

Rita F