Disability Reflection Paper

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Recommended: How people with disabilities are discriminated against in the world

19% of the US population has a disability, which is about 1 in 5 people. 15% of the world’s population has a form of disability. The event focused on diversity and it was presented by Lloyd Shelton who is a case worker at the Eastern Michigan University Disability Resource Center. He has spinal muscular atrophy. The presentation was on November 17, 2016, at 6:30 pm in 201 Pray-Harrold. Disability can be defined as a person having a physical or mental condition that hampers that person to function at a normal level. Having a disability does not limit what a person can do. Prior to attending this event my knowledge on the topic of disabilities was very general. I knew that people with a disability have a harder life and have to deal with people making jokes and laughing at them. I also learned that the simple things in life that people who do not have disability take for granted are some of the main things people with disabilities deal with. Things like stepping up to a curve with no curve cuts, using a public restroom, driving a car, walking, putting on clothes, or reading. My perceptive came from personal and life experiences. I have witnessed disabled people who are my friends and family, treated poorly by others. …show more content…

I learned that there is a social model of disability. The model looks at a disability through the lens of a social construct, which was created by society. This model compares a disabled person to an abled person and points out the differences. There is another model called the medical model which says that things need to be fixed and that you are a disability so we are going to fix you. This method disempowers the person and makes people as their disability. That model is not correct and degrades people, makes those with disabilities look more like they are less human. Even though according to the results of the genome project humans are 99.999999999% the

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