Page 12 - Nutshell 4

friendly to those who preferred to ignore his existence: they perhaps
could be convinced that he was not a threat to their identity, and
should therefore try to accept him as having a personality not unlike
their own. To the excessively solicitous and eager for details, he
calmly explained his situation in simple terms, neither encouraging
nor discouraging discussion. In both of those cases, his goal was to
neutralize unpleasant responses by acting as a model of good
behavior in the presence a very unusual person. And he refrained,
sometimes with difficulty, from pointing out their own physiological
departures from the norm.
But the third group, the haters and mockers, strained his ability to
remain on an even keel. He had never confronted—or even
imagined—the creative cruelty of which children are capable. They
made up terrible nicknames for him, mimicked him pitilessly and
missed no opportunity to stand in front of him and do things with
their hands he obviously could not. They were determined to demean
him, flaunt their own superiority—despite many of them having
disabilities he did not. He would not respond in kind: he understood
it would only make things worse. But seeing himself in the harsh light
of those devastating characterizations inevitably had an adverse effect
on his emotional well-being.

His parents were the first to notice that change. He wanted to stay
in his room and play video games rather than see his old friends or
talk to anyone. His schoolwork suffered. He slept a lot and ate little.
Tommy was getting depressed. After his parents made an urgent call
to Dr. Manus, his support team met and agreed that it was time to
show the boy his new hands. Perhaps that would shake him out of
his downward spiral and inspire him to weather the storm he faced at
school.
Early the next Saturday morning, Tommy listlessly consented to
accompany his parents to see something interesting, as they
expressed it.
“What is this place?” Tommy asked, as they drove into the grounds
of the university medical research center. “I’ve never been here
before.”
“Yes, you have,” replied his mother. “Once, just after you were
born. You are now going to meet some people who are very
important in your life.”