Understanding the Proper Way to Treat the Disabled

Disability has been a difficult topic of society for years. Many people find discomfort in the presence of the disabled and many feel pity for those who are disabled. Back in the 1800s, the disabled were perceived as unable to contribute to society, often forced to undergo sterilization, and forced into institutions and asylums (“A Brief History”). In fact, this treatment of the disabled and mentally ill has been persistent until somewhat recently, when the Civil Rights movement took place, and those with disabilities decided to take a stand for their rights. Although people with disabilities continue to face difficulties in finding jobs, legitimizing their opinion, having the right to vote, and choosing whether or not they receive or refuse

In order to share my personal philosophy of special education, the first priority is to explain the definition of disability that I am working from. In their book, Exceptional Learners, authors Hallahan, Kaufman, and Pullen define disability as an inability to do something, a diminished capacity to perform in a specific way; an impairment (2015, p.4). This definition is important because of the objective nature it presents for those with disabilities. Nowhere in the definition does it say how to treat people with disabilities, whether it is rude to stare, or to what degree a person should be pitied. The definition explains how a disability simply is an inability to do something. People with disabilities are people. They are normal. They simply have challenges

Disability is one of the most important issues in society because of the many fallacies that have been conjured up by people who have not been exposed to individuals with certain disabilities. This stigma has been incorporated into the notion that people with disabilities are “useless”. People with disabilities do not need to have a physical problem, many have a certain mental state that is not parallel to a fully cognitive person. These disabilities range from extreme physical handicaps to mental issues to a depressive state of mind. All of these fall under the umbrella of the term “disability”. Such biases and prejudices contributed to the discrimination of people with disabilities, but that has been eradicated by the many laws or acts that

The most difficult part of working with disabled adults for me personally is having patients and remembering the circumstances. When I do any task, I want it to be done perfectly whether its cleaning, making dinner, or doing laundry I have a certain way I like things to be done. When my clients try to help, me do these things if they aren’t done the way I like I get annoyed sometimes. I have too constantly remind myself that I am not in my house and that my client isn’t doing it wrong they just aren’t doing it the way I would do it. I also have to remind myself how I would feel if somebody came into my house and tried to do everything little thing for me. I would feel useless and helpless; these thoughts help me to see things clearly and back

People with disabilities have not been treated fairly in the past. I believe that that those with disabilities have been treated worse than the elderly. They were not allowed to go to school with the normal kids; they were not allowed to work at most jobs. They were teased and made fun of, sometimes there were rejected by their own families. When they were in the mental hospitals they were treated very harsh, they sometimes had to go through shock therapy. Even though they are different types of disabilities, if was something that was noticeable you were treated different, as if you did not belong.

As for my personal encounter of individual with a disability; the grew up around a cousin who was with brain damage, as a kid I would go over to aunt’s home and sit with him and read books; I would massage his hands and feet because he would have seizures and I would see my aunt doing it so I just picked up on what the adults were doing and try to help out. Even though he could not talk I felt he could hear what I was saying because one time I was reading a book called “Henrietta Hippo” and I would act the scenes and whenever I made the sound of the hippo he would look at me and make a funny sound like he was trying to repeat what I was doing.

I think that it really depends on where you live in the world. Some cultures, like New Zealand try and treat people with disabilities as equals. In Canada, they have been discriminated against in the past. However, now they are taking

Formerly, persons with disabilities were kept private and out of public view. In recent years, the number of people living with disabilities has increased due to longer life expectancy and advancement of medical treatments for life-threatening illness. With the transition of persons with a disabilities into more conventional lifestyles, they are now thriving in society. Disabled persons can be increasingly independent through an assisting device such a cane or wheelchair, though cultural barriers still exist between disabled and able-bodied persons.

Throughout history both in the past and present many individuals who are living or who lived with a disability have been viewed as a burden to society. According to The Dimensions of a Disability Oppression (2010) by L.J Charlton several aspects are intertwined with disability oppression which is beliefs, politics and economics. Policy and the world system have a lot to do with how people see another person especially an individual with a disability because thanks to poverty and powerlessness are viewed as daily experiences in the life of someone living with a disability. In our society when it comes to differences we either ignore it and if we feel that it’s not dominant enough we start to think its subordinate compared to us. We are taught

Despite many crucial developments surrounding acceptance of others there is still a long and arduous path ahead of our society. People with disabilities, whatever a given disability may be and mean for the individual, are frequently stigmatized. They are not always offered equal opportunities, nor are they always offered the proper support to fortify their capabilities so that the individual may be the best they can be. Because of this there are many people who never go or return to college, are unemployed, or are isolated from the community.

In the United States alone over fifty-six million people, or nineteen percent of the population, struggles with disabilities. Each one is unique, ranging from mild to intense, physical or mental, to even behavioral. The way society views this group is as though the handicapped are inferior to others. The aforementioned viewpoint has made terminology such as “retarded” or “slow” second nature in an average American’s vocabulary. It is unjust and has no right in modern civilization.

This leads to having individuals believe that it’s mandatory for them to be more considerate towards those people who are disabled. Even though this may seem like the correct way to act, we may be offending the handicapped people because our perspective is different than as we view non-impaired people. Also, when we aid the disabled people, are we nice people or do we feel bad for the individual’s disability, this is the information that every individual must learn? Thus, the lessons learned from Amanda Kraus are that society has dominated the separation of non-disabled and disabled people by the way we’ve designed the environment. Ultimately, next time you are going to act to help a handicapped individual think about why your act of kindness grew for an instance or whether you’re that type of

In this essay I will attempt to explain people’s attitudes towards the person with disability, also about the causes due to which our society discriminates against them. Few of these reasons are stereotyping, psychological discomfort, lack of accommodation, paternalization & pity.

It is human nature to despise those that are different than normal. Everyone has a different perception of normal and when someone cuts that boundary it results in discrimination. Some people also tend to dislike the disabled due to their own weaknesses, to hide their own failures they will look down upon the handicap to make themselves feel better. Some people's self-esteem is so tiny that they have to find someone "lower than them" to feel superior. Also society perceives the disabled as useless, powerless and inefficient human beings, which also contributes to the ideology that leads to the discrimination against the disabled. Psychological and cultural influences also result in discrimination against the disabled. Hence, we can conclude that the fact that the disabled are “different” is what leads to the discrimination against them.

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.