Eager for Education

We, the ones who are challenged, need to be heard.  To be seen not as a disability, but as a person who has, and will continue to bloom.  To be seen not only as a handicap, but as a well-intact human being. —Robert M. Hensel Put your Penny in the Cup or Bowl, if … I came across an interesting exercise to that works on overcoming ableistic ideas and identifying privilege. This exercise is incredibly interesting and focuses on two sides of society. The bowl, which is the majority. This is the side of society that dominates and usually causes ableism to occur. It represents the people who are not excluded and who represent the vast majority. The cup represents the minority. Those who usually face ableism from society and who do not overcome the confines that society has placed on them. Originally, I wasn’t going to list the questions of this exercise, but if you would love follow along as you read, please do so. (Questions that could possibly people with disabilities ...

It’s important to keep in mind that language plays a valuable role in how people with disabilities see themselves. Some people prefer “Person-First-Language, which is how I referred to people with disabilities above. Others prefer Identity First Language (disabled person) because they take pride in having a disability and consider it part of their identity. As teachers it is important to keep both of these language uses in mind because both ways are correct and that a student may tell you that they prefer a specific way. As an educator, we must honor our students are identify them as the way they wished to be identified. Ableism is when a person’s disability is when disabilities are seen as the other and something to be overcome. It is important to keep this in mind when addressing a classroom with people with disabilities in it. Ableism stems from disability history (and how people with disabilities have been treated cruelly), lack of knowledge and understanding of varied exper...

Ableism has a lot of umbrellas and it is hard to pinpoint exactly where it stems from within our culture as a whole. Keith Storey points out that ableism may stem from negative stereotypes that is particularly rooted in the lack of understanding disabilities issues. Two prominent issues are efficiency (ability to roll around a hallway as one can walk) and difference (obtaining information from Braille instead of print). A great to combat ableistic viewpoints is to eliminate stereotypes through, “ability awareness in which students and teachers without disabilities take part in simulated activities regarding having a disability” (Storey).    Storey points out that multicultural education celebrates diversity in ethnicity and women, but when it comes to disabilities it is very rare. This caused me to think of disabled characters that are talked about in school. Lenny from Of Mice and Men , the phantom from Phantom of the Opera , Mr. Rochester and his wife from Jane ...