I was reading something the other day about how judgmental people have become and thought to myself, “Why can’t we be more like Amelia Abel?” I’ll tell you more about her in a minute. It seems we are so quick to put our spin on why people do what they do, say what they say or feel how they feel when if the truth were known, we haven’t a clue what we’re talking about.

Amelia understands this better than most. She’s a young woman who is about to go out on her own and is so excited to do so. She’s bright, energetic, and beautiful and can melt your heart moments after you meet her.

I first met Amelia when I was working in Television News. She called to see if I’d put her on our “Water cooler” segment to talk about how difficult it is living with Down syndrome. She came on the show and in five minutes created a silence with our audience I’ve rarely seen on TV. My former news director, Alan Beck, called Amelia’s moment pure magic. Alan was one of those rare guys in television news who had the guts to try new things. That’s something you don’t see anymore.

Amelia talked of how people stare at her and judge her simply because of her disability. She talked of loneliness although she didn’t use that word at all. She didn’t have to. When friends don’t ask you to a movie, or to stay the night or even to dinner there are no words to describe how that feels but lonely.

I ended up doing a half hour special on Amelia and others who feel disenfranchised. The special was called “Invisible”. It was one of those rare moments on television when reality is more than a set up island with people back stabbing each other or a race to beat someone to a destination. With Amelia reality becomes what you make of life, not what you see.

Amelia’s story is like a grounding rod for me. Especially now that I’m in a campaign where judgment and perception tries to tell you who you are. I’m not listening to the noise instead I think of Amelia and her ability to look beyond what people say and do and instead believe in what is possible.