oh, this is a great article, and i totally agree with this part of it. i have rheumatoid arthritis. i have permanent damage from it. it seems as unlikely that i'll be healed of the ra as the author here will be healed of his blindness. but tempering? what a great way to think about it. because i *am* well. and i am strong.

Planet of the Blind: On Being Well:

People who have disabilities or who are enduring an intractable illness are often faced with a different challenge, one that defies healing but which requires us to think about being well just the same. As a teacher with a disability who is increasingly researching the ways that culture influences our ideas about “ability” and “disability” I have come to prefer the old metallurgical term “tempering” to “healing” because it suggests that we are getting stronger without denoting a complete physical transformation.