I Am A Kid I Essay

When people think of “disabled” the words incapable, broken down, powerless come to mind, But they are not they are so unbelievably strong, because they have learned to go through life in a completely new way which is just what makes them beautiful.

The amount of people who live with disabilities is a controversial number. Depending on what law and diagnostic tools used, a person may have a visible disability, or one that may lie beneath the surface of his or her appearance. Some people believe that the term “disability” is merely a label use to hold back, or prescribe helplessness. Meanwhile, individuals who have been properly diagnosed with disabilities struggle to maintain respect and acceptance every day. In plain language, there is a lot of misunderstanding between people with disabilities and those without. It is firstly important to get everyone on the same page regarding the definition of disability.

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

In her essay, “On Being a Cripple”, Nancy Mairs, an essayist with multiple sclerosis, writes about her experiences with her disease. She wants her audience of able-bodied people to stop pitying towards disabled people and instead show acceptance. Mairs achieves her purpose by presenting herself as similar and relatable to her able-bodied audience with many anecdotes and a blunt tone. This discussion of her condition removes the discomfort about disabilities felt by her audience and allows for them to accept disabled people. While Maris’s primary audience is an able-bodied person who supports disabled people, other readers, like someone with her condition, may be drawn towards this essay as well. Unlike an able-bodied person, a disabled person

I have been around some people who were some sort of handicap and they all told me the worst thing anyone could do to towards a handicap is feel sympathetic towards them. For example, when I was at a store a man had fall off his wheel chair I was going to help him and he told me not to help him because he could do it on his own. There are parts in the article where I thought were amusing. Like when he mentioned his girlfriend was out of town and it was a letdown because he had lost a pair of arms for shucking oysters. He stated that even though shucking the oysters would be a challenge for him he look forward to the fact that he was not allergic to them. In my opinion “Single-Handed Cooking” is a good lesson about overcoming difficulties, and I think that the point he is trying to get across is if a handicap could overcome his/her difficulties of losing a limb or limbs you can overcome your difficulties and not try to avoid

Unspeakable Conversations by Harriet McBryde Johnson is an article about her experience visiting Princeton University to exchange views and challenge Peter Singer, a professor who strongly believes that all disabled people, like herself, are “better off” not been born at all. The article provides an insight into Johnson’s life as a disabled person. She takes the readers on a journey that explores both sides of her own and Singer’s contrasting beliefs. She protests the prevalent stigma and prejudice of disabled people and gives voice to this marginalized community. Johnson challenges stereotypes of disability, uses her a personal experience to better understand the world and help others, and attempts to directly address oppression by arguing against Professor Singer’s theory and assemble a group of diverse and like-minded people for social change.

In the short story, The Kid Nobody Could Handle, by Kurt Vonnegut, the main character of the story is George Helmholtz. He lives in a small town with his wife, is the head of the music department at the local high school and the director of the band. He is the most important person in the story because he is the only one, not psychiatrists, and foster parents, to make a difference in Jim’s life. Throughout the story, George is determined and hopeful, lonely, and fixated with the beauty of music.

It is all about looking at life from a different perspective. In a blog post written by the Huffington Post, the author of the blog disputes the social stereotype of having a disability as negative when writing, “...people with disabilities can do some things that nondisabled people cannot do, bringing their experience and focus to key aspects of a task.” The importance is to see the word “ability” in disability. In Barbara Kingsolver’s novel, The Poisonwood Bible, the character Adah Price is affected by the condition Hemiplegia - “a type of Cerebral Palsy that results from damage to the part (hemisphere) of the brain that controls muscle movements” (“What”). Adah uses her disability as a strength rather than a weakness which is defined through

Those with disabilities have to accept their lives as being deprived of some joyful instances that may never happen. Individuals with handicaps may not be able to be active with their (or other’s) children, dream jobs may not be within grasp, memories may not be accessible while other’s take them for granted and shun those who desire that which they’ve already acquired (“People With Disabilities”). Provided, life is hard with a disability but additionally, those with handicaps must suffer isolation which is unfavorable in multiple ways. With isolation the person has no help, no support, no companionship, and feel ultimately rejected shutting them down in a social manner (“People With Disabilities”).

Disabilities within the characters of “The Life You Save May be Your Own” by Flanner O’Connor

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.

Prior to the course, Perspectives on disability, my understanding of disability was a fundamental, concept of disability, in which I knew it existed, and also have seen and interacted with people considered to have a disability. I never took a deep look at all the social and political factors that exist within the spectrum of disability. This course has allowed me to examine all aspects of disability, which has changed my view and approach of what a disability is and how it is viewed. "Historically, disability has been viewed fundamentally as a persoal tragedy, which has resulted in diasbled people being seen as objects of pity or in need of charity. They have been subject to descriminatory policies and practices in which the predominant images of passivity and helplesness reinforced their inferior status"(Barton 4). Uncovering the framework of disability, by studying the historical, soicial political and educational standpoint, I see the intricacies in which gives me a greater understanding and awareness of the topic.

Over the years, perceptions towards disability have been significantly changing as result of the long pathway the disable community has taken fighting for Civil Rights, inclusion and against discrimination. Unfortunately, this last one has not been totally accomplished yet. Barriers to social integration still exist in the society. Perhaps the greatest barrier is not the disability itself; is the attitude of people.

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.

sudden reality of one who is not. Life of people with disabilities is not an easy life to have. There