At the end of her chapter, “Body in Trouble”, Nancy Mairs notes that all too often individuals with physical disabilities are excluded from moral life. In her words, she says “people don’t generally expect much of a cripple’s character” and describes the difficulty of helping in normal charitable activities (such as serving at a soup kitchen). Mairs is realistic about her ability to contribute to certain charitable activities—she cannot chop vegetables or scrub dishes. If a life of service is a Christian calling, like the church affirms, how can we expand our idea of what “service” is so that all people can engage with it? What ways can those with disabilities provide care for non-disabled people, so that the direction does not strictly flow
“Including Samuel” How do we get a sense of belonging without relying on the enemy? “Including Samuel” is a documentary about the complexities of inclusion. Like so many other issues in our lives, the solutions are far from clear. The documentary focuses on a boy named Samuel, who grew up with cerebral palsy; this document was filmed by Samuel’s father, Habib. Not only does the film show an insight to his son’s life, but it includes other people’s lives who are affected by different mental illnesses.
What a facilitator can do to open the eyes of people that don’t have a disability is to talk about it, answer questions, make it ok to talk about rather than them thinking the wrong things about people with disabilities. While in the documentary a group of kids watched one of the U.S. Wheelchair Rugby games afterwards, they got to get the players autographs and talk with them. The kids were open to ask questions to the players. In one scene a little girl asks pro wheelchair rugby player, Bob Lujano how he lost his arms and he calmy said from a blood disease when he was little thinking he scared the kids he said to them that he’s alright and that’s all that matters in the end that he’s alive (Murderball, 2005, 48:42).
Some of the participants in this film experienced the same frustration, anxiety, pain and tension that children with special needs do on a daily basis. The F.A.T. City workshop and video helped me as an early childhood education teacher. This film helped me understand children with learning disabilities and what they
Izzy, Willy-Nilly by Cynthia Voigt and The Crazy Horse Electric Game by Chris Crutcher are two great examples of literature that include realistic portrayals of characters with disabilities. In Donna Adomat’s paper about the Issues of Physical Disabilities in Cynthia Voight’s Izzy, Willy-Nilly and Chris Crutcher’s The Crazy Horse Electric Game, Adomat views Isobel’s friends as being superficial after the car accident which leads Izzy to discover the true meaning of friendship. In Izzy, Willy-Nilly, the book starts off by describing Izzy as being an “ideal” high school student with an attractive appearance, athletic appeal, and a part of the “popular” crowd. Izzy was only “friends” with Lauren, Lisa, and Suzy prior to the accident were because
Leaving people who have a disability out of things and forgetting about them hurts their feelings. For instance, in Mairs’ essay she says “…you might feel as though you don’t exist, in any meaningful social sense, at all” (14). No one wants to feel that way, but people who have a disability go through it all the time. The media’s influence may convince people who have a disability to feel as if they’re an outsider since they have a “shameful” part of
“Brenda and Kurt are parents to seven children, including their eldest son, Zack, who suffered a traumatic brain injury as a child. With inspiration from Zack, they envisioned a community where people with intellectual and developmental disabilities could come together to overcome perceived challenges, develop meaningful relationships and contribute their gifts to society. Recognizing that
The short stories “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver and “Big Jesse, Little Jesse” by Oscar Casares tell the narratives of two men as they navigate their internal biases toward people with disabilities. In “Cathedral,” the narrator makes his prejudice clear towards the blind man, Robert, before finding a deeper connection and learning to be more open-minded. In “Big Jesse, Little Jesse,” the central character, Jesse, struggles with the disconnect in his relationship with his son as a result of his flawed perception of and fixation on Little Jesse’s physical disability. Ultimately, the authors of these stories examine how pervasive stereotypes and shallow judgments and emotions enforce the alienation and internalization of otherness between human
Last year I worked with kids who have Down syndrome and Autism. I showed them how to play football, soccer, and basketball. While it was rewarding for me, it was even more rewarding for the kids. After a few weeks of basketball, Tom, a kid with Down syndrome, was making shots more often than my basketball team was. From then on, playing basketball put a smile on his face because he knew that his skills wouldn't be looked at differently because of his disability.
Charlie was constantly mocked and made fun of at his workplace where he worked as a janitor and delivery boy. They constantly would tease him in this way but Charlie didn’t know what they meant because he not understanding that they were making fun of him laughed along. At the zenith of his intelligence, as he was starting to remember his childhood, Charlie himself realized how terrible he was treated because he was mentally retarded. Our world now more accepting and welcoming towards the mentally disabled was not always excepting especially in the time the book Flowers for Algernon was placed in. The book provides us with a clear picture of how the mentally disabled were treated.
An example of when Lennie faces marginalization is when Ala Costa Centers’ mission is to, “empower school-aged children with developmental disabilities to find, use and express their unique strengths and talents.” One way Ala Costa Centers would help Lennie today might be through teaching him how to be gentle without over powering. In addition At Ala costa Leenie
The only interaction I have with disabled people is an uncle, church member, and a few students, however, the majority of these individuals are only mildly disabled. My uncle is considered disabled as a result
Imagine being viewed by the world as different. Wouldn’t you want the people around you to understand? A 12-year-old boy diagnosed with autism was told he was not equal to his classmates. He had a hard time identifying social cues and a difficult time speaking, thus he was labeled “weird” and “an outsider”.
Social interaction problems arise when persons with autism find it very difficult to mingle. Problems associated with interaction include finding it difficult to establish and maintain friendship, lack of interest in people, withdrawing oneself from other people, not paying attention in anything, being distant, and difficulty in expressing one’s feelings and emotions. Social imagination is being able to understand a person’s behavior, thoughts, feelings, and a person’s creativity. People with autism find it hard in imagination due to problem such as general imagination difficulty, trouble in comprehension of future events, challenge in shifting to new and unfamiliar situations, and finding it difficult to understand other person’s feelings, actions, and thoughts. Autism in the Inclusive Classroom Inclusive classroom entails bringing of students with and without disabilities together in school to access education in a general class.
A New York City-based mentoring project for adolescent girls who are disabled (see below), provides parents with exposure to adult women with disabilities who have completed their education and are employed, thus helping to expand their educational and vocational aspirations for their daughters with disabilities (Rousso, 2001a). Young role models can be helpful, too. A Save the Children, UK project in Nepal (as reported in Lansdown, in press) found that once some children who are disabled go to school they became role models for other children and their families. Parents of girls who are disabled also
