This Arabic rap, “Difference is Normal” was shot in Lebanon, Qatar, and Syria. Like the What-Sorts website it explores issues of human variation, particularly disability, but it does so through the haunting medium of Rap Music. It includes subtitles and there is a little sign language, but I don’t know which sign language it is. The particular version used in this music video was modified after the recent war in Lebanon and partly addresses the difficult issue of violence induced disabilities that result from war. That is how does society respect and treat the victims as individuals at the same time that we are trying to make martyrs and fuel outrage toward the other side.
Enjoy this video. I am also including a copy of the English Lyrics below in text, since the subtitles are not readable by text to speech devices:
He comes down the stairway
To the right he turns
He knows where he’s going
He knows where he is
He greets his neighbour
As if he sees him
But Shafic cannot see
Since 10 years, he wakes up in darkness
And in it, he eats and walks
Don’t pity him, he knows the town
And has no need for you
Rana was playing around the house
Hide and seek, riding her bike
Shelling started, she was badly hit
Because of the war
Her leg was cut off
But she lives normally
She goes to school
She has grown up
She doesn’t need your pity
Treat her like anyone else
Even in nature, it is normal for things to be alike or different
But they are much in harmony
Even in nature, it is normal for things to be alike or different
Difference is a natural thing
Difference is normal
We are all equal
The World is full of blind hearts
And eyes that can see
It is natural to be different
I wish that all my relatives love me, And I love them
We have to be open, despite our differences
I hope to realize myself
It is my right to have a chance
I hope to live normally
I refuse pity
At my school, there was a slow boy
The teacher kept shouting: ‘Saïd doesn’t understand a thing! I don’t have to repeat!’
During the recess, Saïd stayed alone
Nowadays, he doesn’t go out
Society has isolated him
It didn’t allow integration
I don’t know why. It must be a defect in our education
For every person born in the world of silence
In spite of this, learned to communicate, learned to read and write
And now is teaching
Don’t underestimate anybody’s capacity
It is normal for us not to be alike
But it is not normal that war creates such differences
They are like you and me
No question of unequal rights
Even in nature, it is normal for things to be alike or different
But they are much in harmony
Even in nature, it is normal for things to be alike or different
Difference is a natural thing
Even in nature, it is normal for things to be alike or different
But they are much in harmony
Even in nature, it is normal for things to be alike or different
Difference is a natural thing
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