I think Marsha Saxton brought up some good points about how majority of us perceive people with disability and how they are formed due to lack of correct information. First thing is something that we discussed in the class. Saxton illustrates interactions she had with other women at a conference. They expressed awkwardness or nervousness when they meet or see disabled people. As the author mentioned, I think that the general lack of education or informations raising correct awareness about the people with disability builds walls against disabled people and negative stereotyping such as poverty or crime. And somehow, these negative stereotyping justifies "selective abortion" of babies with certain conditions. While I was growing up, occasional and limited encounters I had with people with disabilities were usually on the streets. It was not hard to see people without legs, sitting on the streets, or near train station, usually with a music box playing music and begging for money. Another encounters I had was indirect ones, usually on the television, when they are showing stories of 'heroic' disabled people. When I came to Emory, I had chances to see fellow students with disability, who were begging for money, who did not commit crime but who were just like me, except that they had difficulty walking. Despite of many similarities we share, I too also have trouble figuring out where to put my eyes, or what to say, or what to do in general. I think that it is important to be correctly informed early on in ones' childhood about similarities and differences that people with and without physical limitations have, and know that just like ethnic or gender differences we all have things to learn from the differences. I think doing this early on would be one of steps we can take to remove negative connotations attached to people with disabilities.
She mentions another very interesting point. She writes that "most doctors have few opportunities to see ordinary disabled individuals living in heir communities among friends and family". Many of their encounter with disabled individuals are at a hospital, probably when they are distressed because of visit to a hospital along with other factors that might be going on in their life. It is very interesting because, in a hospital, it is probably not uncommon to encounter patients or their families under stress. When 'normal people' are struggling in this situation, doctors would see the current health condition and the fear of surgery or something as the cause of distress. However for people with disabilities, the disability which would cause many other life struggling factors becomes the source of their distress. Here again, the lack of correct picture of people with disability creates this misconception.
My perhaps negative and grim picture of people with disabilities have changed a bit when I saw TLC's TV show called "Little People Big World". It is a reality tv show, showing the lives of Roloffs. Both parents and one of their sons have Dwarfism. There are two more boys and a girl who are average height. There are difficulties they face due to their physical conditions, such as having to built kitchens with lower counters, or sometimes being afraid of people's prejudice. However, they are very independent, have joys and struggles like 'average' household without disabled family members. Having opportunity like this to encounter people with physical limitations in not overly dramatized settings, either negatively or heroically, would be great thing to be encouraged.
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3 comments:
Your blog bring up two important points, context and the issue of staring. In the western culture, from a young age, we are taught that is it not polite to stare. But being told we can't do something, often times, makes us want to do it more or find a creative way to look without appearing to look. By relying on looking from a far to inform us on the disabled person’s life and not being able to see them in a proper context which shows more meaningful aspects of their lives, both parties are short changed and the information gained is of little value.
In addition to the comment before, I was definitely that little kid who would have to be told not to stare. I never stared while having a negative stigma in mind, it was more our of curiosity. This is where the main problem lies because many people do not have first hand experiences with those who are disabled and thus they resort to stereotypes and other tools of discrimination to analyze their lifestyles. It was not until I participated in a program where I helped disabled children play sports that I had full interaction with those who are disabled. I found that they are very willing to help make you understand their condition with a positive attitude as long as the you (the listener) is accepting and nonjudgemental.
I thought that your post raised excellent points about how we as a society act towards disabled people. Given the very limited options that the majority of so termed "non-disabled" people have to interact with people who do have disabilities it is not surprising that our culture has so many negative connotations associated with disabled people's lives. I completely agree that if both disabled people and non-disabled people were encouraged and provide with opportunities to interact then everyone would benefit. People when they are confronted with a disabled person are usually paralyzed with the fear of offending the disabled person. This fear then leads the person to awkwardly avert their gaze, shift their weight, and try to leave the presence of the disabled person as quickly as possible. The fear of offending people often prevents open discussion, even in our own classroom people have mentioned that they are hesitant to talk for fear of offending someone. While, it is very important to be respectful and polite towards others no real progress can be made if we are hindered by a fear of saying something that isn’t politically correct. If no one voices his or her true opinions then as a result no discussion occurs. Often times the thoughts that one person has are shared by others that are also too afraid to speak or even if a no does share your opinions they still provide a meaningful contribution to the discussion. If we as a society could move beyond this fear of offending and if open communication and information was available then we would move along way towards breaking down stereotypes.
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