Personal Experiences with Disability
What is your personal experience with people who are very different from yourself (for reasons of disability in particular)? Do you feel that society can benefit from a better understanding and acceptance of those who act in ways that are outside of what most of us consider normal? Write a short paragraph of a maximum of 150 words to explain your ideas to the class.
Bring a word-processed copy to class next Wednesday.
23 comments:
As a teacher, I have met and tried to help students with a variety of disabilities. Adult students are not funded if they have a disability and this affects their ability to learn. In my classrooms I meet students who are willing, devoted and hardworking, but are held back in some way by a learning disability, yet I have no access to a counsellor or specialist teacher. To say it is frustrating is an understatement. Adult learners are, for the most part, diligent and attentive to their classes. But, that is not enough. Without some idea of how to help someone who learns or behaves differently to the norm, I am not able to teach some of my students effectively. Society needs to understand the waste of human potential of these “outside of normal” people who make equal efforts to those who have more average brains. Disability may be an obstacle but should not be insurmountable; I would love to see that change.—163 words
My Personal Experience with Disability
I had a close experience with a Down syndrome back in seventh grade.
Fortunately, we happen to be classmates. We hang out together at school; I
help her lot in order to keep her company. I was also very pleased with the
progress she was having, my classmates were starting to appreciate her
presence in the class.
I had fun with Karen on field trips and I would like to help more often. She
is a great friend, who is always smiling and treasures her memories in her
heart. She often value her friends above all other things.
I think society would benefit from helping people with disabilities, because
to keep them away from discrimination and bullying and enjoy life same as
we do. She had help from her special therapist at school, and she had
different gym schedule as the rest of class. But I believe if every person lend
out a helping hand the world will have less pain and fear.
I am married to a man that has only one eyeball, and neither peripheral vision nor depth perception, he is legally blind. When we are out in public I am very aware of being on his right side when walking or in crowds, so he can feel my support literally. I have also been witness to the prejudices of others due to his appearance. Despite his visual impairment he is a journeyman plumber, gas fitter, rigger and is certified to operate a man lift up to 300ft. He learned this 2nd trade after the accident that took his eye nearly killed him and mentors others in the trades. So when I think of those who are disabled, I think of people who are not able to see past what the physical appearance presents and thus judge according to a person’s abilities. He does not see himself as disabled.
Karen Smith
148 words
While I was completing my Bachelor’s degree, I had a friend who was suffering from the disease Poliomyelitis (often called infantile paralysis). Her both legs were not working since she was born and she has been using crutches to support herself. She was an intelligent and keen student in our class, and she was getting help from the whole college in every possible way. But she always had a fear in her mind that after completing her studies whether she would be employed by someone, whether she would find a partner to spend her whole life with. These fearful and dreadful things discouraged and demotivated her to move further in life. I think society should understand and accept those disabled persons as like normal people in order to give them better understanding and support them. Disabled persons shouldn't feel apart and away from the rest of the world.
150 words.
Autism is a kind of disability which affects the speech and the social parts of the brain. My nephew is a high functioning autistic nine year old. He has some moments when he cannot comprehend life’s’ expectations. For example, taking turns, sharing and being calm when things do not go the way he wants. Moreover, he has difficulties in paying attention and developing social relationships with others. It is frustrating to all of us when he tries to play with kids, but he doesn’t know how. If he does not find the support from others, he will be misled into thinking life is lonesome and depressing .The more help he gets the more successful he will be. My special memory with him was when he asked me, “Can I have a hug.” He taught me patience, understanding, perspective and how to find joy in little things. As a community, we need to understand that people act differently and we have to support each other because in the end we are all human beings.
I had a classmate with ADHD back in junior high, and as far as I can remember, he always put a smile on my face. He was always preoccupied no matter what. I initially thought he had a habit of inhaling his own fart before coming in to school. Well, it has been five long years since I last saw this bloke so perhaps he probably figured out how to cope with it already. But he is a great artist. The school even made an art exhibit exclusive only for his artworks: little Picasso in the making. He was grateful about it. And I think it was good for the school to showcase the talents of students with disabilities because this will make them feel that they are not very different and that they are also appreciated like everyone else. In return, the school get to uncover things of beauty, which no one thought existed but only in their little world. —161 words
Different
When I was a teenager I didn’t pay much attention to others, and specially those in need. That was about to change. When I arrived to Canada I was introduced to most precious little boy my cousin. He was disabled, but not just any disability. His head was always growing that’s why he needed a device to help reduce his head, but even with that his head was always heavier than his body.And that makes his daily life a real challenge. I was able to help my aunt to take care of him at first I was afraid of how he was going to react with me, but at the end I noticed that he was just a child who needed my love and attention. He couldn’t communicate with words, but he had many others ways of letting us know everything from anger to happiness. I know that sometimes we ignored disabled people and we don’t even noticed it. “It is time to change that”.
Adela Corvera
61609 English 12
October 7 2013
164 words
Back when I’m still in the Philippines I went to an orphanage where they help disabled children and it was a life changing experience for me. You can see a different perspective once you are involved or see the condition of those children living in the situation wherein they are helpless. With a meager amount of money to support the everyday expenses it was so hard for the people who work there to meet their needs. But nevertheless it did not dishearten them to do their work with a selfless heart devoted to work as volunteers. Government doesn’t support much to those people with disabilities and it’s so frustrating. When I came here in Canada I see a better treatment for people with disabilities. Even in public transport you can see people giving way to those disabled people. Government here supports a lot and gives opportunities for disabled people. It’s nice if in every country will do the same as what they do here. -164 words
Every now and then, while walking around metro town mall, riding the bus, or even just strolling around my neighborhood, I would see people who would be considered different, or impaired. Majority of my encounters with these people were during my times in high school. During high school, I actually tried to avoid noticing and working with these students. I guess back then I just felt uneasy. I have nothing against different and disabled people, I know that they are humans too. They have feelings and should be respected. I definitely think society can benefit from understanding these people. If regular people can openly accept and understand those who are different, there would not be a person being boastful about being “regular”. There would not be anyone looking down at someone else.
134 words
One reason that some people are uncomfortable around people with disabilities is that they're afraid that they will "say the wrong thing". However, that's not a big deal to most people with disabilities. What's important is that you respect the person and see them beyond their disability. My mom is person that been affected by Multiple Sclerosis ( in another word MS) for almost 18 years. she had loss of muscles in her both legs and couldn't walk again. living with a person that can't walk and needed assistance at all time is a challenge that my family faced. Even with her being disabled she always supported me and encourage me to achieve my goals. My experience with living with person who need always need help been wonderful and grateful after all she is my mother.
There are society that already accept those who act in ways that are outside of what most of us consider normal and there some society that think having these kind people would cause them to slow them down and prevent them not to move on. i think most of the world have the same idea as the second idea i said which is really unfortunate.____200 word.
Variety Among Humans
My close family friend, Val, works at a center for disabled people. She has a theory which led her to have a large amount of patients for people who are not considered “normal”. Val explains it as human souls can be one of three: young, old, or wise. When a life is lost the soul is recycled into a newborn child, each life it exists through teaches it new lessons. The young souls are those who commonly make choices that give them an instant emotional high even if it is not the best choice for their future and are commonly hard to befriend unless also a young soul. Old souls better understand outcomes of their choices and their personalities are desired by most. The wise souls are those with disabilities. They have lived through many lives and have returned to teach souls younger than them lessons which cannot be taught any other way, lessons that are specific to the younger soul being taught.
-163 words
As a child I saw lots of people with disabilities. My parents taught me that people are either born with a disability or they acquire it through an accident. It was easy for me to accept difference in my family members, after health complications left them disabled; easy because I knew them. But the most challenging experience was meeting a quadriplegic girl at a friends’ house. She was a stranger. Her whole body was motionless except her head and right hand. I didn’t know how to behave toward her. I didn’t want to have pity on her or to be over sympathetic. I felt awkward and helpless. Later her mom told us to check her special computer. She typed, “I love you all”. Somehow, I felt sensitivity and intelligence under that body-camouflage. I think disabled people remind us about the worthiness of one’s life. We just need to see them as people and not as their disabilities. – 156 words
Although the disability may make disable person live in a different way from ours, everyone has the equality in spirit and sour. My father became disabled after being attacked by bone hyperplasia, a disease that spurs grow both inside and outside of his left knee. It is painful to walk even stand. But he relies on himself most of the times even though in a super slow pace. Whenever I offered him helps, such as bring water and medicine, hold him downstairs, he would undoubtedly reject it. I used to think he was fine but realized he just wanted to be treated as a normal person later. He became happier when there was no one watching him or around him all the time. So, it is important to help the disabled person to their consent , treat them like normal people. And they are normal people!- 145 words
One of the biggest culture shocks I have had after landing in Canada is how a person with disability is treated as close as a normal one. People with disability in China are always neglected on many aspects ,and you will not see a person with disability studying at a regular school. But, Canada is in contrast. I once attended a concert at my son’s school in his grade 5.On the stage, there was a girl with two amyotrophic legs the whole body twisted on a wheelchair, and a teacher deftly wheeled her chair through the crowd following the rhythm. She smiled to the end of their performance. I was amazed! A person with special needs like this girl still enjoys the life with dignity as a human being even though she cannot stand up ,sit down and speak out .People are equal in the eyes of God ,and God makes a mark on some special ones. (153 words)
I knew one boy who has never appeared in the school because his legs were paralyzed. He was homeschooling, and we could barely have rumors and speculation about his existence and his life. Such people are ashamed to appear in public, because they were afraid to be a ‘black sheep’, you know. I was very puzzled when one girl told me she visited him many times. Now I realize that she really did care how he lives without communication. He had no a wheelchair to move around, so it is life within the four walls forever. I still cannot put myself in the “poor boy” place; to do this seems to me extremely painful and even impossible. Careful government with right program is the only institution to muster disabled people’s problem. The humanism of the state is primarily manifested in the care of people who need its help.
-148 words
Some years ago, I had the opportunity to looked after an autistic lovely child for two months on a daily basis. The first week was frustrated and overwhelmed. Neither his parents nor I knew that he had autism. He was almost a 3 years-old and he was non-verbal and difficult to approach. Quickly, I learned that the best way to communicate with him, was images and some mimic. He became able to eat by himself, clean up, and say some words. I became able to understand that because some people relates differently to the world are not less. There are a numerous examples of creative and inventive people who made transcendental contributions to society. For example the German musician, Beethoven and the American inventor, Thomas Edison, both hearing impairments. As a society, we don't need to adjust persons, we just need to help them be themselves while they navigate in this same journey.
When I was younger, I used to live beside a friendly boy named Steven who happened to have down syndrome. While we were playing together I noticed that he acted a bit differently, but he was my friend and it didn’t matter to me. People picking on him and avoided him just because he was different compared to them and I remember thinking, “Wow, Steven is actually a really nice and interesting guy once you get to know him, but these guys only see the differences.”. I feel that this is how society generally treats people with disabilities. I believe that society could greatly benefit from the people they alienate; people with disabilities, or even in some countries, women could be greatly valuable members of society with the right assistance. We are all human beings and we should be treated equally with respect.
--143 Words
I realized some of my friends have minor cognitive disabilities after they forgot their stuff in my place several times. They forgot their wallets, keys and cell phones many times in my place, and they didn’t realize they forgot something until I told them the day after.They are educated, and they have good jobs. They look like normal people in society. No one will know about their minor cognitive disability unless they become friends with them. As I am part of society, most of us have disability that is not visible and even myself , I have specific disability which is I can not type about something while I am thinking and talking about something else, but my friends who have minor cognitive disabilities can do that. People need to understand that no one can be complete, and we all are living in the same society and sharing our abilities.
(150 words)
Last year when I went back to Taiwan, I visited a coffee shop operated by Children Are Us Foundation. Most of the staffs, from bakers, waiters to cashiers, were people with intellectual disability or developmental disability. I actually changed my first impression by dining there, because they were very well-trained to get their jobs done. There has always been a stereotype about people with disabilities; they are fragile and needed to be treated with extra care. However, it might also be the reason that they are isolated from “normal” people. Once we get the chance to know them better, we should be able to help them in different ways. Just like Children Are Us Foundation supports them to lead normal lives by providing the adaptive technology and working opportunity, we should also treat them with respect. After all, we are all the same: trying our best to live a beautiful life.
-151 words
Due to Internet and media, the world is much smaller than it used to be. People now can get many things done by just sitting in front of the personal computer typing the keyboard. Now because of this, many people suffer from the lack of social skills to communicate each others. Sociopath is very extreme case of disability caused by lacking social interactions. I used to know a girl who encourages people to have faith and trust, but she felt no shame or guilt of bad things that she had done. She always thought she was the unlucky one with all bad people around her, always victimized herself, did bad things to hurt people, while hated people who hurt her emotions at the same time. I tried very hard to socially interact with her, cure the negative feelings that she had, but it was really hard to explain why hurting people emotionally is bad to the person who is not capable of feel other peoples pain. (166 Words)
When we are young, our parents teach us acceptance of different people. I remember coming home one day from school and telling my mom about a student in my class that was disabled. She always said “They are people too”. Those words still resonate with me. I know there were children in my class who would make fun of these special needs kids and others would embrace them. I found myself in a situation where I accept them. Largely because my mom had two down syndrome adults living in our basement, which she cared for. I feel like if people could “put yourself in their shoes”, we would have a more open, understanding and empathetic society which as a whole functioned more smoothly. Many people with disabilities are high functioning people, and could be very contributing to our society, only if people would accept their disabilities.
-146 words
Eight years ago my dad remarried. At fourteen, I was a little weary of someone new joining the family and if she wanted my approval it was not going to be easy. In the beginning she was outrageous, spontaneous and always looking for that “Wow” factor. This soon changed, we began to fight constantly and I could never quite understand the way she was acting. One minute she was happy and the next she was rude and making inappropriate comments. The constant fighting began to skew everyone’s opinion of my dad’s new wife. Within the last year, however, Kathy was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. I feel that my family would have had a better understanding for Kathy had we had more knowledge about her disorder. Society as a whole would also benefit greatly from a clearer understanding of people who act differently than our definition of “normal”. With more knowledge about disorders, we’d have more consideration and acceptance for them, and therefore not be so judgmental.
-165 words
Every time in a rainy day, I seemed heard a voice—it is a good day to sleep. I knew Grandpa Lee since I was six years old. After came back from Korea war battlefield, grandpa lee had a little obstacle to communicate with people. I was so curious why he was so exciting to enjoy any terrible weather. I still remembered that I was eating dinner in my grandpa house in a storm companied by rain night. Grandpa Lee came to visit my grandpa, he looked so happy to see me. “You can sleep tight”, he smiled to say. Suddenly we heard an aircraft roar. He jumped out and screaming “Take a cover, air attack!” After so many years past, he still could not forget his battlefield reaction. It helped him to survived, but now he had to deal with another battle. This time the battle will be a lifetime long.
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