I thought this was a great experience and opened my eyes to all the challenges individuals in wheelchairs have to face. Throughout the day, I noticed I had to go out of my way to find a path that was accessible for a wheelchair. Not only was it inconvenient, but at times it was physically challenging and required a lot of energy. The next day my arms were very sore. It was also difficult to navigate around the classroom, and I sometimes had to ask for assistance to move obstacles out of the way. A lot of the doors on campus were very heavy and made getting through the doorways a lot harder. Most of the time, I needed someone to hold open the door so I could get through to the other room. These experiences made me realize how important is it …show more content…
I did not have to get many groceries, so I was able to fit them all in a basket and hold it in my lap. Fortunately, all the items I needed were within my reach and I didn’t need to ask for assistance. I did have to use both hands to propel the wheelchair, and therefore, I wasn’t able to carry as much from place to place. This could have made grocery shopping more challenging if I needed to get a lot of groceries and didn’t have someone to help me. When I was in public, I was really aware of what others thought of me. I was worried they would judge me and think I was either being lazy or trying to get attention. Reflecting on myself, I would probably think the same thing. I sometimes find myself wondering if a person I see really needs their wheelchair or if they are just too lazy to get up and walk, especially if that person is obese. In my mind, they could use the extra physical activity. Being in the wheelchair, it is already degrading and humiliating to seem so helpless, let alone seeing people giving you disapproving looks or gawking. I have much more respect now for wheelchair bound individuals, because in all honesty it is physically and mentally
...ur test. Mr. Morris took us students around in a wheel chair to show us how hard it is to get up the ramps in a wheel chair. This experiment has taught me that when I see a disabled person trying to get up a ramp that I should offer some assistance because it is sometimes very hard to get up the ramp when in a wheel chair. All of the students had a lot of fun while also learning some safety.
I had always heard people talk about people they knew with disabilities as “the sweetest people you will ever meet,” but that phrase meant nothing to me until I met this group. I honestly could never have imagined the impact that they would have on my life. The next time that I went back after my first session, I had participants say things like, “You came back! Hi!” or “Look, it’s Megan! Megan everybody!” As an introvert, it is sometimes difficult for me to approach new people and immediately build relationships with them. This group of people has absolutely no issues waving at strangers to making friends effortlessly. They made me feel appreciated and loved having only been with them for one session, and this feeling grows each time I
Most people feel relatively uncomfortable when they meet someone with an obvious physical disability. Usually, the disability seems to stand out in ones mind so much that they often forget the person is still a person. In turn, their discomfort is likely to betray their actions, making the other person uncomfortable too. People with disabilities have goals, dreams, wants and desires similar to people without disabilities. Andre Dubus points out very clearly in his article, "Why the Able-bodied Still Don't Get It," how people's attitudes toward "cripples" effect them. It's is evident that although our society has come a long way with excepting those with physical disabilities, people do not understand that those with physical disabilities are as much human as the next person
I am not sure if the attitude was because I was a woman, did not have a wheelchair, or because of small town politics. This is far from the first time seeing someone in spaces without tags or place cards, or spaces that are legal in size but are horribly placed on the property. There are times when I have my ankle and knee braces on but do okay without my crutches, yet I feel compelled to adjust my straps so others can see that I really belong in the handicap space. In the United States, our “healthcare” system model works on the mode of you go to the doctor when you are sick in order to get better and move on with your life. That model does not work for those with chronic, mild, or invisible disabilities. None of the people I have talked to want to be a paraplegic – although I have some friends that are – or have cancer, but our culture makes people feel guilty for being ill for too long. One is either healthy or getting cured. There seems to be little patience for those who are in between, or for those who have greater disabilities, and have the nerve to venture out without a caregiver. Similar to John Hockenberry’s experience in New York City (Hockenberry 297), those who are handicap are seen as unwanted appendages that have a nerve burden the rest of society. However, Hockenberry’s experience in Iran was glaringly different (Hockenbarry 287). He was treated with dignity and as a fluid part of the group and not as an accessory that was to be disregarded when it was out of
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
In the book, The Short Bus, Jonathan Mooney’s thesis is that there is more to people than their disabilities, it is not restricting nor is it shameful but infact it is beautiful in its own way. With a plan to travel the United States, Mooney decides to travel in a Short bus with intentions of collecting experiences from people who have overcome--or not overcome--being labeled disabled or abnormal. In this Mooney reinvents this concept that normal people suck; that a simple small message of “you’re not normal” could have a destructive and deteriorating effect. With an idea of what disabilities are, Mooney’s trip gives light to disabilities even he was not prepared to face, that he feared.
I was always the person to shy away from a disabled person because I didn’t know how to handle it. I always thought if I avoided them I wouldn’t have to face the truth, which is I was very uncomfortable with disabled people. However, since our discussions in class, reading the book, and going to the event my views on the disabled have changed drastically since then. I learned that people with disabilities can do the same things, if not more, that a person without disabilities can do. I realized that I need to treat people with disabilities just like any other person, like an equal. People shouldn’t be ostracized for something that they cannot control. Everyone should treat disabled individuals with respect, dignity, and concern. This is why from now on I will not shy away from a disabled person I will welcome them with open arms because they are no different than
I realize that I didn't get the real in-depth experience that was envisioned for this assignment but I did find what I saw really interesting. I know that just four short years ago they didn't have the buddy program at that school. And they still have nothing at my old Catholic high school. After learning more about the benefits of inclusion during the semester, it was encouraging to see that those benefits were being experienced by students from my hometown, if not my alma-mater. I wonder how my knowledge and perceptions of the handicapped would be different if there had been programs like that when I was in high school. At least I can rest assure that future students at SHS will not go through school as ignorant about handicapped students as I did.
This experience differed from the medical experience I had before, as now I was not just observing but also actually interacting with the patient. My previous experience working in a rehabilitation center made me more ready for what to expect when interacting with elderly patients. I believe that I handled the experience very well; there is nothing I think I would do differently. With more exposure to this type of situation I am sure that I will become more adept in my skills and techniques.
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
I want to list some of the positive and negative things about the event that I attended. The positives would be that I did not have to use an interpreter to communicate with anyone, everyone knew sign language and it was a bit awkward because like I said, I am used to having that communication barrier in my world, so it was fun and I felt so much more independent; I even started asking everyone for more information on their stuff that they 're marketing or where things were because usually in the hearing world, I would just say nothing and hope that things will reveal themselves to me. Almost everyone were very friendly and shared their life experiences with me, making me feel like I 'm part of the family and it was hard for me to do the same since I 've raised not to really share anything and just to listen to what everyone 's saying and say nothing to contribute anyways. That also made me realize that my deafness does not have a big D, because I 've been taught to think and act like a hearing person, so it 's definitely hard for me to connect with deaf people. The negatives would have to be that it was hard for me to see what the person on the stage is signing because I don
The first thought that crosses the mind of an able-bodied individual upon seeing a disabled person will undoubtedly pertain to their disability. This is for the most part because that is the first thing that a person would notice, as it can be perceived from a distance. However, due to the way that disability is portrayed in the media, and in our minds, your analysis of a disabled person rarely proceeds beyond that initial observation. This is the underlying problem behind why disabled people feel so under-appreciated and discriminated against. Society compartmentalizes, and in doing so places the disabled in an entirely different category than fully able human beings.
With the acceptance of disabled people being more common you would think that you wouldn’t see any discrimination against them, but in today’s age, you still see them getting left out. It doesn’t only benefit them as people to include them in the things that normal people get involved in but it benefits you as a person as well. We, as a society, should start including them into the things that they usually don’t get involved in. Who knows, it might change your life. We should all learn about how we can affect the community of inclusion of people with disabilities and be more accepting of the
To start off my day, every morning I work with special education kids for an hour. Many days I work with Jason, who is paralyzed from the waist down and has learning disabilities as well as troubled speech. Jason and I look at the newspaper, work on worksheets, make projects, and sometimes go on walks. Throughout the months I’ve worked with him I have learned a lot about patience. Being a beneficial peer helper requires me to explain things in multiple ways until he understands, this can sometimes take a good while. Everyday Jason improves and it’s truly heartwarming to watch his growth and achievements. Jason makes me very thankful for my health and ability to walk, as it is something many of us take for granted. Overall, I have learned a lot about interacting with those of special needs and I greatly appreciate those who teach and volunteer with Special Olympics.
People with disabilities are still people, they are people with hearts and they are actual physical beings; people with disabilities do their best to live every day to their fullest, yet that is still not enough for others. I feel like as a whole, humans are generally uncomfortable with people who have disabilities. Let’s think of it this way, people live their life every day in their normal lives and then they come across a person with a disability and suddenly their life is interrupted, like it is such a barrier in their flow of life to come across someone different from themselves.