“What Actions Can You Take to Promote Social Justice and Embrace Diversity of All People?"
For most people, it is easy to shake their heads in shock and dismay and then ask the questions, “What is wrong with the world and why is it like this?” Many people continue to repeat this same routine when the most recent heart-breaking story appears on the news. No matter what people have been through, where they come from, or where they’re going as human beings, we all have similarities. We all want to be loved and cared for. We all want to pursue our dreams and develop our potential. Most of all, whether we as a community admit it or not, we all want to live in a better world where everyone is seen as equal and valuable. In order to understand and promote social justice, we must first know the meaning. According to Webster’s Dictionary, social justice is “A state or doctrine of egalitarianism,” egalitarianism meaning “a belief in human equality especially with respect to social, political, and economic affairs.” There are many ways to go about promoting equality first people must be willing to listen, learn, and be compassionate. By doing so people are showing courtesy and are open to hearing what others not only think but feel as well. Taking others peoples opinions and ideas will eventually make a
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Social justice and promoting diversity are topics that I can personally relate to, . My father being disabled is reason why I can relate to the topic so well. When meeting him, people automatically assume he is helpless just because he is visually impaired. It’s natural for people to have misconceptions of disabilities and individuals that have them. I believe that sharing my father's story is one way to promote the equality of disabled beings. The way he has embraced his disability and overcome it by being very successful is more evidence that people with disabilities are not limited in what they can
Example 3: My colleague is a wife of her husband, parent of her children, teacher for her children.
In the video “Inclusion, belonging, and the disability revolution” (TEDTalks, 2014), speaker Jennie Fenton opens with describing situations where people with disabilities are segregated and excluded from their communities, sent to live together away from society, or even treated as lesser humans. She then proceeds to introduce her family, including her six-year-old daughter that was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Jennie admits to previously having negative or frightened thoughts about having a child with a disability, but with her “seven realizations,” she learned that her daughter was merely on a different path than others, but that no one should ever feel broken or not a whole person (TEDTalks, 2014). After she explains that there are roughly one billion people with a disability throughout the world, Jennie states that she believes in possibility over disability. If a person’s
Stella Young’s TedTalk “I’m not your inspiration, thank you very much” discusses the various ways in which those living with a disability are often viewed differently for doing the same mundane things those living without a disability do. In her speech, Young claims that people are lied to about disability. She tells a story about how she was teaching and a student raised his hand asking when she was going to begin her inspirational speech since the only interaction with a person with a disability prior to her class revolved around a person giving an inspirational speech. Young then goes on to state that the world is deceived by “Inspiration Porn” and which leads to the idea that those living with a disability are “objects of inspiration”. She jokes that no matter how long she sat at the bottom of the stairs having positive thoughts that would not get her to the top of the stairs. Young concludes her speech by saying she wants to live in a world where disability is considered the norm and not the exception.
When America was founded, it was established on freedom and equality for all people. At first it was just religious freedom, but eventually freedom of speech, press, petition, and more. In time, America began to be known as a “melting pot” of cultures as more and more people came because they wanted this freedom; the more people who came though, the more problems America had. There were too many cultural discrepancies between people, and ultimately America, the country based on freedom and equality, faced challenges concerning diversity.
I was very excited when I saw this essay prompt because diversity is actually one of the main criteria that drew me into NC State. All throughout my schooling life, for as long as I can remember, I never attended any schools that were diverse. There was always one extremely predominant race or gender, and it’s something that truly disturbed me. I am excited to attend a college that is so diverse in many aspects, that I will be able to benefit from in multiple different ways. I will be able to learn and understand new perspectives which will help me gain an open mind and heart to be able to accept different kinds of people. I will be able to familiarize myself with different backgrounds and cultures, because I am so accustomed to my own, I
the sense of responsibility for each other's welfare, social justice can never be attained (Lewis, 2012).” This quotation by her simplifies my own idea of what social justice is about. I feel a sense of responsibility for other’s welfare and I want to work with people using the field of social work to achieve progress toward my own goal of social justice.
Being involved with the community and society and not engaging in anti-social or offending behaviour
Equality permits all students the privilege to have access to and participate in education despite their disability or different conditions. Gravells (2008) believes that 'Disparity and separation ought to be attached to guarantee reasonableness, respectability and regard among learners. '
have formed about rich people will be hard to disown, I think that they should
“It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” ― Maya Angelou.
Social justice is not an “us versus them” mentality; rather it is a “were in it together” mentality where the powerful and powerless work together. Obviously those who are in need are the poor and oppressed: women, African-Americans, Jews, Latin Americans, etc. However, due to the fact that these people are in these oppressive situations, they gain insight into the injustices that surround them specifically, and society in general. Although they are made poor by those in power and the structures, institutions, and organizations run by those in power, they still possess “strength to resist, capacity to understand their rights, [and the ability] to organize themselves and transform a subhuman situation (Boff, 1)”. The poor and oppressed are held above the rich and powerful, in other words are given preferential treatment. Due to their oppression in life,
When people have a disability it is life changing for them. They cannot just flip a switch and turn it off; most times it is a permanent ordeal. Participating in this experience opened my eyes even more to specifically what disabled people go through on a daily basis.
When people with disabilities are included in the making of media content, they are able to “debate the societal issues related to them that rarely make the mainstream press” (Haller, 2010, p.117). This means that they can bring up problems that they have personally experienced and help educate society on how those problems can be resolved. News about disabilities should be included in the media more often in order to help able-bodied people become aware of disabilities and avoid the stereotypes that have been created. If a person with a disability helps make a story about someone with a disability, they can make sure the story explains the necessary issue and disregards any stigmas. Beth Haller describes in her book Representing Disabilities in an Ableist World: Essays on Mass Media that “historically, articles about people with disabilities rarely made it into the news, and, when the articles were written, that they were misrepresentative and stigmatizing” (2010, p. 119). In addition, an individual with disability can
By the year 2050, nonwhites will represent close to half of the U.S. population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau projections. By 2005, the ethnic minority share of the workforce is expected to grow to 28 percent, up from 18 percent in 1980 and 22 percent in 1990. Although the African American population is now the largest minority group, the Hispanic and Asian populations are growing much faster. In 1994, the African American population was estimated to be 33 million, or 12.7 percent of the total population, up from 11.7 percent in 1980.
Approximately 15% of the world’s population is, in a way, disabled. Whether it is a physical disability or a serious chronic disease, we have about one billion people in the world that live with a disability every day of their lives. It often occurs that these people are seen as an outcast of society; people that cannot live normal lives. It is important to realize that this is not true at all. People with disabilities are completely able to be part of the world. It is just the world’s duty to accept them.