Lesson on "R" Mountain

The video that really stood out to me was the one about a man who couldn't see and yet climbed to the summit of Mt. Everest, one of the most dangerous peaks in the world. I think it stood out because it changed my perspective. I think I was in the same mindset of the man who said it would be hard to get a blind man up to the top of the mountain. It also stood out to me because just a couple days before I watched the video I had a similar experience. (I'll be changing names.)

For those of you who've been to rexburg you probably know about "R Mountain" or Menan Buttes. I come from a background of frequent hiking and backpacking so R mountain barely counts as a warmup in my book. With this mind set I invited 2 of my roommates and an FHE brother to climb it with me one night. I already knew that one of my roommates, Jane, has severe anxiety and asthma so I planned on pacing the climb with her to keep her from having an asthma or panic attack. The second roommate, Megan, had never left Manhattan, In the parking to the mountain Joe (FHE Bro) also told me that he was afraid of heights. Jane wanted to get to the top quickly so she and I ended up ahead of Megan and Jo even with me making her slow down or stop when I noticed her breathing getting gaspy. Once we got to the top I decided to head back down as the sun was getting low and I wanted to check on the other 2. What I found on my way back down taught me a fast lesson. Megan was sitting on the ground looking panicked and Joe was on all fours looking terrified, unable to move. After a lot of calming I was able to talk both of them off the mountain but I will never again disregard chronic fears, or handle a group of people like this one the same way again. Knowing about the emotional states of my group members,  I should have kept the group together and watched for discomfort in them before it got paralyzing. All of them were determined to get to the top, it was just poor leadership that got in the way.

Although it's not the same as guiding a blind man up Everest, it taught me about paying attention to, learning about, and ajusting for peoples needs. This was the foundation for my outline this week. Fears, anxiety, asthma, and panic attacks are fairly common minor disabilities that need to be accounted and ajusted for. My question however, is how to do this in a way that isn't demeaning, patronizing or that makes people feel disabled or how to handle groups of people with different needs and dynamics.