I finished watching “The Best Years of our Lives”, a movie made in 1946 about three veterans who come home from WWII and their experiences readjusting to civilian life. One of the veterans served in the Navy and lost both of his hands in a burn accident. It got me to thinking about what I would do if I were disabled.

I decided to figure out what I would do for nearly every situation and decide, if I should have a choice, what I would prefer to loose.
Hands:

This would be one of the hardest. Many of the things I love involve my hands. Whether it be playing the violin, taking pictures, cooking, coding on the computer, or just touching - my hands are my life. I could always figure out a way of taking pictures without my hands - so becoming a professional photographer would not be out of the question, although quite difficult. I would still be able to function as a teacher.

One of my favorite quotes from the movie was, “They couldn’t train him to put his arms around his girl, or to stroke her hair.” If I lost my hands, I might just loose my mind if I lost physical contact with what or whom I love.

Legs:

If I had to loose a limb, I would hope it would be a leg. In many ways, I would be able to do nearly all the things I enjoy doing without the use of a leg. Going outdoors would pose some problems, but not nearly the professional problems loosing a hand would create.
Sight:

I have tried going blind. For the past couple weeks I’ve been trying to see how far I can walk with both of my eyes shut. I can go 16 steps now without feeling the least bit uneasy about it. With more practice, I could probably go much farther. If I lost my sight, I would have a lot of difficulty making it as a computer engineer. Professor Lee White currently has a blind student in his data structures class. Trying to learn binary trees and complex databases must be incredibly difficult without being able to see a representation of them pictorialy.
Photography would be out of the question, but I would still be able to play the violin. I have had no problems learning new music strictly by ear. I could get by, I suppose. I would rather loose my sight than a hand.
Taste/Smell:

I guess I would just have to stop cooking! A relatively small loss, but eating food without being able to taste it would be quite dreary after a few years. Perhaps if they made a machine that ate the food with me and was able to interpret what I was eating and relate it in musical tones…

Touch:

Yes, I would probably go insane. Just imagine your entire body being numb. That is mind boggling. Can such a condition actually occur? I don’t think so…

Hearing:

A world without sound would be one of the most depressing places I can think of. The first thing I recognize about a person is their voice (followed by the color of their hair, their smell, and finally their personality). Social interaction without being able to hear would pose a significant problem to me. Playing the violin would be nearly impossible due to the fact that it has infinitely many pitches in its tonal range. I could still be a successful photographer or computer specialist. Nonetheless, living in a world without sound would probably drive me to insanity. Beethoven had more balls than I ever will.

Voice:

Having an excuse not to interact with people wouldn’t be that bad. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a social guy. However, I’d much rather watch and observe others if given a choice. I’m a social hermit. I watch silently and strike when the opportunity presents itself.
So, in order of least important to most important to myself:

• Taste/smell
• Voice
• Sight
• Legs
• Touch
• Hands
• Hearing

It was a tough call between Hands and Hearing, but ultimately I decided to keep my hearing. While I would not be able to contribute to the world as much as I could without my hands, I would not want to live in a world without sound. I guess that’s selfish, but it’s how I feel.

Of course, there are disabilities that I did not consider such as disfigurement, mental stability (heh, I lost that awhile ago), and dependence on an external solution (breathing machine, heart or kidney condition, etc…), but I’d get by. I’m confident that if I lost a single function listed above, I would be able to get by. If by some misfortune I should loose a combination of the above, I can only hope that should never happen.