Page 11 - Nutshell 4

“Tommy, however,” he continued, “cannot successfully navigate
this usual course through childhood. His first encounters with
unprepared and intolerant people—particularly other children—
could leave him withdrawn and depressed, unable to face further
immediate and negative reactions to his hands. Our next hurdle is
being prepared for those crises, and then either averting them or
converting their outcomes into something positive.”
The professionals then told Tommy’s parents how to go about
easing their son into contact with strangers. Unknown to the
Tennysons, a nearby university ran a pre-school for children born
with atypical and significant differences in appearance from the basic
human configuration. The teachers had special training, and the
addition of Tommy did not provoke automatic hostility or repulsion
among the other students already enrolled. Mr. and Mrs. Tennyson
were allowed to observe the playroom through a one-way mirror on
their son’s first day there. It was a relief to them when they saw that
the children regarded Tommy with shy curiosity before a teacher
gave them all a game to play requiring cooperation and
communication. By the end of the day, Tommy was in no hurry to go
home with his parents. And when he was in the car with them, he
talked excitedly about his new friends and their activities. And he did
not mention their somatic irregularities: it seemed to be an unspoken
rule among them not to say anything that could embarrass anyone
else.

But Tommy could not remain sheltered until he and his
replacement hands were mature enough to be united. He had been
exposed only to special schools and playgrounds where he could be
assured of a friendly reception. Then he arrived at the age children
began middle school. The psychologists watching his development
decided that this would be the time for him to face reality in a social
setting. They found a private school already catering to students with
“special needs”. The other teenagers there, however, were only
slightly more tolerant of physiological difference than those in public
schools. It would be a test for Tommy, and he was not sent to it
unprepared.
As expected, he encountered three kinds of reaction to his hand:
polite or feigned indifference, an often morbid fascination disguised
as sympathy and outright hostility and ridicule. Tommy had been
coached on how to deal with each of these types. He tried to be