Cultural Differences Between Athena And Lgbtq Culture

For my cross-cultural comparison, I wanted to examine and learn about two very unfamiliar and different cultures. I thought hearing about unusual and not well known or understood cultures would help provide an insight to the diversity and similarity in cultures no matter how largely accepted or how much of a minority it is. I sat down and spoke to two individuals, a transgender woman and a Kyrgyzstani immigrant, about their cultures, experiences with disability, and views of the world and was very surprised and intrigued by their answers and how they differ than my own.

Athena, a transitioning transgender woman and an active member in the local LGBTQ community, was more than happy to talk to me about her culture and views. When asked about

She discussed how whether you grew up in, or joined at a young age, the LGBTQ culture or adopted it later in life and how that impacts your view things. Growing up in the culture, individuals are more accepting of disabilities and accessing services because they are comfortable with the ideas of being different and confident with themselves. They are not ashamed to ask for help and are focused on getting the help they need. On the other hand, those who adopted the culture later in life have a harder time accepting disabilities and accessing services because of their previous culture, the dominate US culture which we know sees needing services and disability as weakness and something shameful. Overall Athena believes that most members of the LBGTQ culture are much more accepting because they also understand what it is like to be different and stray away from the norm and see individuals with disabilities as

For starters the US culture emphasizes on the individual, whereas both the LGBTQ and Kyrgyzstani cultures are more of a collectivist culture. The Kyrgyzstani culture emphasizes the ability and acceptance to get help whereas the dominant US culture sees this as a weakness and is a little less accepting. The LGBTQ culture on the other hand views disability as something more positive and something to be used to describe a person, but the US culture see it in a more negative light and a way to make someone stand out negatively. Before taking RHS 100, I believe that I was more aligned with the dominant US culture. But through taking this course, I am growing and understand that differences and disabilities are not bad things; they are just unique aspect about