[yaddayadda]

There was a course in my undergraduate college that required each student be 'handicap' for a week (e.g., blind, wheelchair-bound) for much the same reason. I didn't take the course but everyone on campus experienced it to some degree though peers.

In much the same way, I lost the use of my dominant arm for several months during graduate school. I always had respect for those with lifelong physical disabilities, but the insight I gained during that period resulted in even more respect. During that period I had one really supportive professor. But, I also had a second professor that I wanted to do much violence to - simply so that he might gain much needed insight. Since I graduated, the second professor has tried to get me to collaborate with him and I refuse to primarily because of his lack of basic respect for others' abilities (both disabilities and capabilities that exceed his own understanding).