Laserfiche WebLink
Sometimes a result fram �he people that feel sorry for those in <br />wheelchairs is speaking in an overly sympa�hetic or sentimental way. <br />One day when I was about four years ofd my dad took me to a local <br />playground. A lady who was there with anotf�er child saw me and started <br />saying things to dad like "Tl�e poor a�gel! 5h�'s so sweet!" People will <br />also �ouch yau when they wouldn't touch an abfe-bo�ied person. I€�eard <br />abaut a case where a politician running for office [iterally patted a woman <br />in a wheelchair on the head! <br />Tl�e point I would like to make is tha� sometimes stereatypes, <br />prejudice, and discriminatian can be deceiving; at first they might �ppear <br />"jus� �eing nice." For exampie, one stereotype T have experier�ced is the <br />belief that if you are in a wheelchair, you are som�how '�childlike," no <br />matter w�at age you ac�ually are, This can lead to the assumption that <br />the persor� must need a great deal af help, fiollowed by the discriminatian <br />ofi providing help (esp�cially in the tr�r�e af voice that's �sually used for a <br />�hree�-year-old) before there's bee� any real indication it was needed. I <br />think there's a di��erence between askina if help is needed and j�st going <br />ahead and doing it. <br />The questiar� of what to do about these feelir�gs and actions is <br />complicat�d. I do feel that the way schoofs are organized now (inclusian) <br />is much better than when kids with disa�i[ities were all grouped in one <br />segregated schoo[. To me, the basis for most negative st�reo�ypes, <br />prejuclices, ar�d discrim�nation is fear of somethir�g or someone tl�at is <br />unfamiliar. To cornba�t that, the first step is obviausly that you have ta <br />actually know someone with a disabiNity. Far example, the krds that I <br />have �een to sc�ool with since kindergarten usually trea� me mt�re <br />naturally �han kids I'�e ju�t met or adults who di� not grow up close to <br />anyon� with a disabili�y. <br />Another way that i�cfusion is effeeti�e is that just by doing well in <br />my classes, both regufar and acce�lerated, I help to counteract s�me of <br />the stereotypes I'�e mentianed. Being ab[e to think of a specific <br />