How to Provide Disability-Competent Assistance When you work with families that include a member with I/DD, we recommend you follow disability-competent practices. Recognize and avoid stereotypes Stereotypes about groups can influence our attitudes and behaviors and cause us to make assumptions around what support people may want or need. This may lead to negative interactions (“Communication in the Real World”). To support families and improve life outcomes for people with I/DD and their families, it is critical to recognize assumptions and biases and avoid feeding into stereotypes about people with I/DD. Stereotypes and Facts about People with Disabilities Stereotype Reality People with disabilities always need help. Like all of us, people with disabilities …show more content…
The purpose of this language is to reinforce the fact that a person is a person foremost and the disability that he or she experiences comes afterwards (The Arc, “People First Language”). On the next page, we provide examples of person-first language. However, some people with disabilities prefer to use identity-based language to refer to themselves (e.g., autistic, blind, or deaf). They may choose to use this language because they believe that the disability is a part of who they are, because they are proud to be who they are, and/or because they want to take ownership of how they refer to themselves (Ladau). When working with people with disabilities and their families, a good practice is to begin by using person-first language. As you talk with the person and the family, listen to how they refer to the person with a disability, and mirror (with one notable exception) the terms that the person uses to describe their disability or health condition or other’s disability or health
What comes into one’s mind when they are asked to consider physical disabilities? Pity and embarrassment, or hope and encouragement? Perhaps a mix between the two contrasting emotions? The average, able-bodied person must have a different perspective than a handicapped person, on the quality of life of a physically disabled person. Nancy Mairs, Andre Dubus, and Harriet McBryde Johnson are three authors who shared their experiences as physically handicapped adults. Although the three authors wrote different pieces, all three essays demonstrate the frustrations, struggles, contemplations, and triumphs from a disabled person’s point of view and are aimed at a reader with no physical disability.
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!
When many of us hear the word “disabled,” we often times have a preconceived notion characterized as a limited individual or even one who lacks skillfulness. Although most of us don’t choose these thoughts in a critical manner, we frequently overlook the potential opportunities that these disabled individuals have to adapt and overcome difficulty. In all fairness, I can admit that at times when I have thought of a “disabled” individual, I am guilty of having a predetermined mindset. Since being recently introduced to “Clara: A Phenomenology of Disability,” and Aimee Mullins “The Opportunity of Adversity,” I have become much more mindful in the way I perceive those living life with a disability and how it may affect their future.
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.
The following is a response and reflection to the article “People First Language” by Kathie Snow. My first personal interpretation of the article was of a person on a rampage and I could not understand the content of the article. The author Kathie Snow seemed to be upset that people with disabilities are labeled, instead of being addressed by their name. In her article, it appeared that she was using false analogies. Her article compared people with disabilities and medical diagnoses like psoriasis, arthritis, diabetes. I am not sure if I agree with this analogy, because not all disabilities are a physical medical issue. Some disabilities are cognitive, social, or emotional and really have no relationship with medical disabilities. Although, it takes a professional medical person in some subfield of the medical field to diagnose a disability, it just seems that, there is no correlation between medical physical issues and disability. On the other hand, there were parts of the article that
Marshall, C. A., Kendall, E., Banks, M. E., & Gover, R. S. (2009). Disabilities Vol. 2. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
People who have physical disabilities often experience negative situations and connotations that they must overcome to thrive in society. People who offer narratives about their disabilities often give the most accurate representation about the challenges those with disabilities face. Ms. Marenge, reported that one of the hardest things about leaving the rehabilitation center after becoming paralyzed was living in a house that was inaccessible, and having to rely on her family to carry her up and down the house (Casey Marenge, 2011). Similarly, a student with muscular dystrophy, says that she wishes more places were wheelchair accessible, because when they aren’t she feels that society is holding her back, and she can’t reach her full potential. Alisha also reported that t making friends is hard because some kids would ignore her at school because of her situation and she is often separated from the mainstream students at school. Alisha, doesn’t want to be defined by her disability, however, she believes that many people who look at her only see her wheelchair (Alisha Lee, 2011). Despite the many negative ways people who suffer from physical disabilities are affected, it is important to note that they don’t always feel bad for themselves, and that having a disability doesn’t stop them from loving
This essay has served to give a brief understanding of the theories and practices of the medical and social models of disabilities, and how they affect people with disabilities. It is an important issue to consider as there are still many things in the world the disable people and we still have steps to make society inclusive.
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 states that a person with a disability (1) has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, (2) has a record of such an impairment, or (3) is regarded as having such an impairment (42 USC 12101 [2]). Students with disabilities experience specific struggles that negatively impact their academic and social engagement. However, their needs are often not met by higher education institutions in comparison to other student identities. This comes from the stigma in our society surrounding disabilities. Children are taught from a young age that it is inappropriate ask an individual with a disability about their experience. These children grow up to be adults who feel uncomfortable being around those who may have a disability.
Healthcare professionals lack experience and education on how to work with hospitalized patients with intellectual disabilities (reference). Admittance into the hospital can put a lot of stress on individuals with ID as well as their caregivers, and the healthcare professionals involved. Balancing the needs of individuals with intellectual disabilities is a challenge for many professionals throughout the hospital due to multiple factors have produced years of social oppression, institutional discrimination, and attitudinal barriers. Communication is the key to maintaining a seamless flow between health care professionals and their special need patients. By advocating for a reform in training of health care professions, this would help with increasing the quality of services provided for those with intellectual
Disability is an topic that has produced conflict, and is viewed very differently from either side. For able-bodied people to truly understand what disabled people go through they need to see disabled people more; see their lives. If seeing disabled people more often became reality, they would be viewed as normal more, and it would make interacting easier for both sides. Disabled people have a hard life, but it does not mean it is not worth living. Nancy Mairs, Andre Dubus, and Harriet McBryde Johnson all have physical disabilities, and have written about their experiences and views. In their writings, they touch upon both similar and different points. A very present similarity between the authors is they all play to the same audience. In their messages, both Mairs and Johnson agree that able-bodied people automatically assume that disabled people have a lower quality of life or are unhappy. The strategies used by each author plays to their message, and aids them in getting across their position. Disability isn’t always easy to understand, and these authors help illustrate that.
In order to successfully explore the issue, the paper will take a look at the shift in approaches towards people with disabilities and how this shift has impacted
Disabilities are commonly used in many metaphors. Metaphors can help greatly with understanding a new concept, and many professors use metaphors in lecture. Metaphors make it vividly clear what is occurring. However, disability metaphors can represent a stereotype or prejudice about disable people that is not true. These metaphors at time can make disable people seem flawed or unable to function like others, which in most cases is
Living my life with a brother with disabilities has never been easy. It has been difficult throughout my life watching him grow up and encounter more and more struggles in life because of his disabilities. Our biggest question throughout the years, though, has been what our plan will be for him later in life. How will he live his life as an adult? Will he work? Where will he live? Will he have friends? How happy can he be? People with children with disabilities have to explain, “How do people with disabilities really fit into American society”? It’s not just families discussing this question; experts as well are debating this unknown by looking at the same questions I mentioned before. Looking at where disabled people are living, whether they are working, and the relationships they have with other people are ways to understand how disabled people fit into American society. This topic should not only matter to people close to disabled people, but to everyone. In some way, every one of us is affected by this topic; we want everyone in our family to lead “successful” lives (have a job/have somewhere to live). The same goes for families with people with disabilities.
Disability: Any person who has a mental or physical deterioration that initially limits one or more major everyday life activities. Millions of people all over the world, are faced with discrimination, the con of being unprotected by the law, and are not able to participate in the human rights everyone is meant to have. For hundreds of years, humans with disabilities are constantly referred to as different, retarded, or weird. They have been stripped of their basic human rights; born free and are equal in dignity and rights, have the right to life, shall not be a victim of torture or cruelty, right to own property, free in opinion and expression, freedom of taking part in government, right in general education, and right of employment opportunities. Once the 20th century