Personal Narrative-He's Not Broken

Some family have stereotypical ideas about disabled, but for Amy Purdy and her family that motivate them to live their lives beyond their limits. Although, she lost some parts of her body. For example, she lost both her legs below the knees, the spleen, kidneys. Unfortunately, she became unable to hear in her left ear. Another person who born with disability, Maysoon Zayid which is cerebral palsy. However, she did not give up for this so she worked hard and persevere to get a scholarship which was from Arizona State University. From Amy Purdy and Maysoon Zayid, we learn that facing problems forces us to get creative, and we should be optimistic when we want to change a critical situation.

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

People with disabilities are not completely gone. They are still there and have a mind of their own. They feel emotions and sometimes have a more complex mind than others. Two authors help enlighten this idea that disabled people are much more than helpless bodies. Both Christy Brown and Jean-Dominique Bauby perfectly illustrate their lives and what it is like to be disabled, and they prove by their stories that they think and feel, and can even develop enough to share what they feel with the world. My Left Foot is about the journey of a boy suffering from cerebral palsy. His entire life he was labeled as a loss cause by doctor after doctor, but his mom never gave up hope. Slowly, he started showing signs of development by random movements responding to certain situations. In the end he ends up being able to communicate with his left foot. The next story, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, is about an individual who suffered a stroke at the age of 43, leaving him paralyzed, only able to blink his left eye as communication. He develops his own alphabet inspired by the French language in order to exchange conversations with others. His thoughts in the story jump from the present, him currently disabled, and the past, when he was not. Both memoirs, with very different stories, show the lives of two individuals that are not like others. One who had their disability since birth, and the other who obtained one after a tragic event. In My Left Foot by Christy Brown and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby, both authors use characterization to show readers the struggles of disabled people and help them understand that just because they can’t use motions such as hand gestures to express how they feel, doesn’t mean that they don’t think and feel.

Interviewing the parent of a child diagnosed with learning disability can be intimidating. It is difficult to gauge how much a parent wants to reveal about their child. Also, it is not unusual to discover that one parent is at a different place of acceptance than the other parent. Each family member’s journey is different; for example, it is not rare for a father to work out the emotional difficulty of a special needs diagnosis differently than a mother.

Family members overwhelmingly expressed very positive views of their children with intellectual disabilities. Parents also reflected on the challenges of raising a child with a disability, however even when discussing the challenges that both they and their children had faced, parents also recognized that others may not view their children the same way that they do but what should be noticed regardless of their child's functional level, parents are proud and described a variety of

In the video, When Concerns Arise: Learning from Families’ Experiences, parents discussed the feelings they had when they discovered their child was going to have disabilities. Doctors informed them their child would never be able to walk or talk and the child would become a burden on the family. With this being said, many of them felt alone with little support. After the initial shock of learning about their child, and not wanting to believe the doctors, they began to learn and understand their child’s disability. They began to seek help and support from head start programs, teachers, advocacy groups, family members, friends and other families who have children with disabilities.

It is no secret that in the past those with intellectual disabilities have largely been discriminated against. The documentary Is Love Enough by Tom Punchniak gives viewers an eye into the lives of those who have intellectual disabilities. He explores the controversial and extensive issue of those who are disabled but have children. The documentary shows the desires of those with these disabilities and those who want to have and raise children of their own. It also depicts the social barriers they struggle with as they raise children as well as the things that the children suffer when passing their parents mental abilities as they grow.

Her candid descriptions revealed the kind of dedication that every child deserves in a mother. Her children are lucky that they have this beautiful record of their childhoods and triumph over disability told from her loving perspective. The reader could sympathetically sense Maurice’s ache as she held little Anne Marie on her lap, coercing eye contact with her rhythmic, repetitive “look at me.” We became a cheering section. Because we took that journey with her, the reader felt an equal sense of satisfaction and jubilation as Anne Marie made strides towards “normalcy” including social interaction and

In my personal discord as a ‘typical’ child reared with disabled caregivers, I was aware of the diversity of an individual’s capabilities at a young age (Unger, Cuevas, &Woolfolk, 2006, p. 180). My cultural upbringing made me humane as well as knowledgeable towards a limited perspective of disabled individuals. Despite my personal experience, my reflection of my past is meek. Through my struggles, I endured while in my biological parents’ care, I acknowledge where I might have obtained some discontentment. Nonetheless, my life's experience secured my mindfulness of the variations of other's

For my final project I interviewed my mother’s friend Tammy Carnes who’s son is diagnosed with cerebral palsy. During our interview we discussed what it is like we raise a child with a disability, and how the educational system aided in dealing with her child’s everyday needs. After completing this interview I feel a little more understanding of how the parent of said child may feel when dealing with the educational system meeting their child’s particular needs. A high point of the interview was Ms. Carnes’s surprise to the amount of dedication the educational system is making to ensure their teachers are well prepared for the different types of disabilities children may have. A part of the interview that surprised me was how truly patient

when a time something broke was in 2017 me and my. Brother was playing soccer outside my Brother kicked the ball it broke the window.and I said "we have to fix this fast." and he said "how?" and I said "with glue or tape ahh! just pick one." "lets do both." he said "ok then hruury up." I said so on we went inside and got tape and glue. we went outside and glued and taped and we went inside and thouht and I said "we should play something else to play" and he said "how about football" "okay" I said and. We went outside and we got in to our places and he thew the ball and it hit our broke old car window and I said "what is wrong with you hitting windows." and he said "I don't know." but it didn't brake I was releved

Today in America, there are disabled children being supported with living in society, learning, and working. Understanding disabled children, in America, is still, in the lacking aspect of things, a more productive way of interacting and understanding should be pursued, which is needed just as much as acceptance. Even though there are several organizations that educate the public in disabilities,autism, public school systems, parent groups, and how social interaction can help to understand disabled children, and can further assist children with disabilities to feel included within society this paper will focus on The Arc, but also include other organizations.

Ouch! Whenever he plays flappy bird he always forcefully chucks me against the wall! Now all I can do is lay here and look smart until I get picked up. Finally he’s coming to pick me up, took him long enough. He picks me up, and then he quickly chucks me on the ground again! Finally, he picks me up and checks that I’m not cracked, maybe he does care! Wait, I’m getting chucked at the ground again, dang it. Man he bought a strong case, I can’t believe I’m not broken yet. Keyword, yet.

This text discussed how “students with disabilities often face numerous challenges as they progress through their school years. In addition to disability-related challenges, they may encounter additional difficulties such as bullying in school and lack of social acceptance by their peers” (Darrow, 2014). I believe that there are people like Sean Stephenson who is a public figure known for being born with a disease that leaves him at three-feet tall, having fragile bones and has to be in a wheel chair. This gentlemen is an American Therapist, self-help author and a motivational speaker who despite everything has such a positive presence and outlook on life. The education that children with disabilities receive is concerned with meeting their emotional needs such as feelings, beliefs, values, and attitudes (Darrow, 2014). When these kids are able to experience these emotions, they are then able to fully engage in many of life’s experiences. This piece of writing by Darrow along with Cuddy’s book “Presence” lead me to connect this article to how everyone equally deserves to find ways to be present in their life as well as be their best in their most challenging moments. These texts altogether change the way I have mostly thought of human interactions.

Child (ren) with disabilities’ success in development, education and life depends on parents’ ability to accept the challenges of raising a child (ren) with disabilities. Weiss, Cappadocia, MacMullin, Viecili & Lunsky, (2012) advocate therapy for Parents. They feel that child-focused therapy should include the parents as well, to ensure children diagnosed with a disability receive the best possible developmental and educational support from their parents. With the tremendous amount of stress that accompanies caring for a child with a disability, which can encumber their effectiveness in caring for their child, researchers are examining parents’ reaction to stress. Stress is incurred through many challenges, i.e. marital, financial, emotional,