Much of my elementary years, Mrs. Moore (per-school and kindergarten teacher)and I spent a lot of time together to improve my speech. Mrs. Moore had a lot to do my self-confidence to speak in public. She worked with me by projecting my voice by looking toward the back of the room and to speak to the whole audience. This tool and method has been very useful as I had lead worship and preaching services, and have spoken at numerous convention and seminar events. She was really good and topical of the day. I would practice saying words from Bob Dylan 's song, Blowin ' in the Wind, reading poetry, and short stories. I was fortunate to have Mrs. Moore and her aid assistant Mrs. Voss. There were others just as important because they were all …show more content…
One day, when I was a junior in high school my English teacher told me that I was retarded. For a teacher to willfully throw out such a comment is inexcusable Her words had a lasting effect that stayed with me long into my adulthood. Her words affected my perception of I how I saw myself. I doubted myself where I didn 't feel that I had a good enough contribution to make or that I would be ridiculed for a comment that I made. Many years have gone by that this perception has haunted me at times, Marilyn, my wife has greatly helped me to be not be affected by this thought said by a uncaring and thoughtless person. There is an old saying that we all know “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words cannot hurt me”. Inappropriate and negative words do hurt and can have a lasting impact on how a person sees and thinks of themselves. A few unthinking words spoken left an impression on me which created a sense a real self-doubt, also a deep the feeling within made me that I was not worth the expense of the education that I was receiving. I don 't want you, the reader, the listener, or you, who stands as an advocate for the person with whatever disability you may have: don 't doubt yourself, don 't hold onto unkind, callous words spoken over you by a person that does not know you and what you are all about. Words can be used …show more content…
Sue DeLong located me through the internet. She and I talked about those days, and in the conversation I mentioned about that episode that affected me so much. Here is what Sue told me: “Don’t you remember Tim. the day that you went to UCLA to be tested on your intellect. I was invited to sit in to hear the results. There were 18 of us around the table. It was a long report. But, it said that Tim Carraher uses every bit, his whole intelligence, a 100% to achieve everything. Most use less that 50% whereas Tim makes use of every ounce of his intelligence. Tim is the smartest one in the whole
The first four weeks of CR510 have prompted this student to reflect on her years of teaching in the public school setting. Having experienced many similar complexities to the ones in the text, this student is sympathetic to the challenges facing those in the education system and is eager to find opportunities to offer a better solution for all involved. CR510 has strengthened this student's belief that a third party neutral can provide valuable benefits to educational systems at all levels.
As human beings, we like to make sure never to offend or judge anyone. We even have sayings like “never judge a book by its cover”. A metaphor that is often said whenever trying not to judge someone based on their outward appearance; however, it is not often that people practice what they preach. We judge people based on external factors within seconds. Even though we know what people see on the outside is not a defining factor or who we are as people. Nancy Mairs, author of On Being a Cripple, has to live through this every day. She knows this truth very well, and lives proudly with the fact that as she is disabled. Mairs is admirable for choosing to call herself a “cripple” and not be ashamed of it. Though the word is derogatory and a word that is avoided by society, Mairs identifies herself as a cripple because that is what she is. In explaining her disability, she says, “I haven’t always been crippled, ... to be whole of limb is ... infinitely more pleasant and useful. and if that knowledge leaves me open to bitterness … the physical soundness I once enjoyed is well worth the occasional stab of regret” (Mairs 186). What really
Retard,’ we heard her say, and Margaret wilted” (118). This shows that she has been in situations where the word “retard” affected a person with mental disabilities, in this case her own daughter. To the reader this goes straight to their heart, making them feel bad for everything they have ever used the word “retard”. Later in the argument she show the word not only affects her daughter, but also anyone that cares about her daughter. She says, “For my daughter and my family, it’s more like a grenade, and we’re the collateral damage”. This explains that whenever the word “retard” is used, it’s not only hurts people with mental disabilities but also anyone that cares about people with mental disabilities. Then she goes into how she understands that people, usually aren’t trying to be rude or hurtful, that they are “just joking” or “didn’t mean it like that” but regardless of how it’s meant, it’s still hurtful to the people who are affected by mental disabilities on a daily basis. Falling back on to pathos again, she names of a handful of ways she’s heard “retard” in her day to day life. She says, “A clerk in a store apologizes for being ‘such a retard’... Ouch. Kids at the mall call one another ‘you big retard.’ Ouch. A friend tells a … story…about her recent fender bender, with a punchline about ‘some
The r-word is one of the most repulsive words in the English language; it humiliates people and is used colloquially without second thought. The word “retard” causes nothing but anguish. The r-word was first used in a medical discipline (e.g. “mental retardation”). The pejorative forms of the word “retard” and “retarded,” however, are used in society to deride people with intellectual disabilities. I find this social injustice unacceptable, especially because the r-word is often used to call people without intellectual disabilities “stupid.” When the r-word is used incorrectly, it reinforces the painful stereotypes of people with intellectual disabilities as being less-valued members of society.
After reading “People First Language” by Kathie Snow, the first thing that came to my mind was the saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” I have never agreed with this saying because words can inflict pain just like sticks and stones. Words really do matter. Kathie Snow believed that other people’s attitude towards others is the greatest obstacle facing people with disabilities. According to Kathie Snow (2010), “The real problem is never a person’s disability, but the attitudes of others!
Disability in our day in age is seen as being worse than death. People with disabilities should not feel like they don 't belong. They are just like everyone else and want to be treated like everyone else. Many without disabilities think that it can be contagious and stray to even look at people with disability. This is not the case for it 's not contagious and one should not be seen as a different person just because of their disability. They didn 't choose that life and shouldn 't be mistreated for what they are. “People with disability should be treated equally to everyone else.”
She told her readers that she has a muscle-wasting disease and she could only move three fingers on her right hand. She wrote that the reactions she got from most people were “Decidedly negative” (Johnson p.98) She wrote that she would hear thing such as “I admire you for being out; most people would give up.” And “You don’t let the pain hold you back do you?” (Johnson p.98) There is often talk about how popular culture teaches people to both see and not see the people with disabilities. Comments such as these are an example of such blindness. When a child sees a disabled person a parent’s first reaction would be to tell them not to stare. We teach children that it is impolite to be curious about people who live life differently than others. We carry the “its-not-polite-to-stare” idea into adult hood therefore when we come across a disabled we try not to make eye contact not as if we are being rude but because we are taught that it would offend them. All curiosity and attempts to understand are shut down at a young age for fear of offending someone. Therefore, any attempt to encourage is met with a deep misunderstanding of how the life of someone with disabilities truly works. Just because a person has a disability does not mean they are incapable of enjoying
Historically, we have been taught that people with disabilities are different and do not belong among us, because they are incompetent, cannot contribute to society or that they are dangerous. We’re still living with the legacy of people with disabilities being segregated, made invisible, and devalued. The messages about people with disabilities need to be changed. There needs to be more integration of people with disabilities into our culture to balance out the message. Because of our history of abandonment and initialization, fear and stigma impact our choices more than they would if acceptance, community integration, and resources were a bigger part of our history.
I had a classmate that had cerebral palsy and was in a wheelchair. I did not feel any way about her because I did not know that she had cerebral palsy until she told me. I treated her like she was a normal person, but other people in my class feelings towards her were not so nice. She was would always ask questions in the class because she had struggles and people in the classroom would yell at her. They say come on you ask so many questions, but she never bothered me. The feelings that come up when I am around people who are disabilities like blind, deaf, cerebral palsy, are obese, and etc. is I do not feel any different when I am around someone who does not have a disability. I think that people with disabilities are normal. People who disabilities should feel like they are not different from me or another person in this world. They might have severe struggles; we should not judge someone on the struggles they have. People who disabilities describe themselves as “invisible” because people just pretend that they are not there. People tend to ignore them when they see people disabilities in public with disabilities. The words my family and community use to refer to the above groups of people is disabled because we had a family friend who was disabled. My parents hated when we or people we knew used the word “mental retardation” or just
In middle school I was diagnosed with a disability with the way I expressed myself through writing. Ever since, I have gained multiple values and learned several lessons about self confidence. I was taught to push past my limits, in order to be successful in reaching my goals along with my dreams. Today I am a senior in high school who was once thought to struggle, but was able to succeed beyond expectations. To some, a disability may seem like a setback from achieving goals, but to me I used it as a challenge for myself. I accepted myself for who I was and looked at my disability as a unique trait of mine. I was able to provide a message to others that anything you set your mind to is possible with dedication and hard work. It might take
Coming into speech class, I mentally and physically prepared myself for what was in store. I never really like giving speeches, especially impromptu speeches. Signing up for speech was hard for me to do because I absolutely did not want to take it and was considering not taking it in high school and wishing that I would never have to take it. My fears for COMM 101 was being judged. I am not really one to care about what people think about me, but something about public speaking gives me a fear that people will judge me if I stutter or not be able to complete a speech. I just wanted to do my best in this class and just breeze through this class and get it over with. Getting up in front of the class for my first speech, was petrifying for me
Dating back to the 1800s and earlier, society’s perspectives of people with disabilities were misunderstood. This “lack of understanding” consequently led to ridicule, rejection, labelling and stigmatisation of not only people with disabilities but people who were different to the ‘norm’ of society (Duke, 2009, p. 3). Over the years there has been a significant shift in social attitude, particularly in how students with disabilities should be educated. These social attitudes of the past and the contemporary attitudes of society today have ultimately steered the development of a more inclusive society. According to Konza (2008) ‘nominalisation’ is a significant factor to the changing attitudes of society. Nominalisation encompasses the notion that people with disabilities are entitled to “...
There is a history of students who have a disability having a hard time learning at the same pace as other students with a learning disability. Some teachers do not have the patience to work with students who have a hard time learning. Some teachers give up on the students who have a hard time learning. People who have a disability have a hard time being an equal in the schools, college, and workplaces. Some schools are pretty bad about
Whether born from ignorance, fear, misunderstanding, or hate, society’s attitudes limit people from experiencing and appreciating the full potential a person with a disability can achieve. This treatment is unfair, unnecessary, and against the law (Purdie). Discrimination against people with disabilities is one of the greatest social injustices in the country today. Essential changes are needed in society’s basic outlook in order for people with disabilities to have an equal opportunity to succeed in life. To begin with, full inclusion in the education system for people with disabilities should be the first of many steps that are needed to correct the social injustices that people with disabilities currently face.
...ities and that I have done a complete one-eighty in my view of these students. There was several times where I caught myself using the term retarded, in describing something that was unintelligent. I must understand that my advocacy towards this issue will only grow if I continue to find out more about learning disabilities, to watch what I say, and to be careful when trying to teach others to change their views.