Social Status of the Environment

In the world today, a huge issue is how the environment around us does not create conditions for everyone to make everything accessible. I have seen this a lot simply around campus. I never use to notice these things until I begin studying more within this class. However, I have begun to take more notice to people with disabilities. The littlest things can affect people and cause issues that most people would not have. We discussed a few that I have seen recently such as, curb cuts, certain areas not being easily accessible, or not certain second floors being reachable. We also have discussed in class how educational systems are not all taking the measures that they could to ensure everyone is gaining the same opportunity to acquire knowledge.

The text that best addresses this issue is the Disability keyword essay we discussed that speaks on the social model of disability. This addresses how the environment can disable a person depending on their surroundings. It also discusses how society decides who is disabled and who is more able based off the potential a person is given at the time.

I think a good way to handle this would be to continue to be aware of our surroundings and noticing the areas that need to improve in order for everyone to have access to things and not be environmentally disabled. Schools should continue to educate teachers how to better maneuver a classroom to identify each type of learning habits necessary.

Individuals in the Workforce

A contemporary issue pertaining individuals with disabilities is the lack of job opportunities for those with disabilities. I have seen several images and posts on social media about how one did not get the job just based on their disability. That person could be the most loving and hard worker ever, but the employers do not hire because of the plain fact that they have a disability. I believe at every job there is a job for someone. That is why I choose this topic, I think things need to change more. In today’s world the workforce seems to be opening their arms to allow individuals with disabilities to be able to work. But the workforce was not always like that, and it still is not 100% with the availability of options. I feel like individuals with disabilities are not able to express their goals they want within the workforce because not all companies do not want them. I believe that it has to do with the face and looks of the company. It seems like some companies do not want individuals with disabilities as the face of the company because it might decrease busy. But without having the options for work, what are they supposed to do? If the society keeps them locked up in their house, it goes along with the stereotype people give with those with disabilities. People give those with disabilities stereotypes of being 100% dependent on someone, the inability to function properly, and there is probably several more.

This goes along with the social model a little bit of how the environment creates the disability. In this situation it is the people in the environment and sometimes the environment itself that creates the disability. In some situations it can be the environment that creates the disability because if something is not accessible or easy to use for all people, like it is not universal designed, it is hard for the individual with a disability to function to the best of their ability. When it comes to people of the society, they create disability but not allowing those with disabilities to further their interest in jobs or even schooling, but mainly the workforce.

The world needs to continue to allow those with disabilities to keep growing in anything they set their mind to. Starbucks, for example, allows individuals with disabilities to work at their stores, as well as Walmart, and some fast food restaurants. With having the ability to work some place, allows for further connections and allows those with disabilities to make long time friends of all kinds that they would not get to experience if they were stuck at home or in the same facility or area. I believe having an opportunity of being in the workforce is great way to increase the individual’s way of communications.

Overall, the world is becoming more about jobs and technology and I feel like there are many more options of where a person could work in today’s world than in the past. Jobs need to be more open to who can work there, and I am not saying hire a criminal, I still feel like they should do a background check and drug tests, but jobs need to not discriminate just because of a disability. Jobs sometimes might feel like the certain individuals would be slow, but every job needs to learn how to teach and be patient to those who need to go slow to get the job done.

 

Disabilities in School

When you think about the mentally disabled people in a public school you think of the special education program. Although this is a group of students that is increasing every year, with 6.7 million children with disabilities, why is the attention to them still so minuscule? The special education classrooms tend to always be secluded and hidden away in the corner of the buildings, put away out of sight, never included with normal classrooms. This isolation for these students put them at a disadvantage in school and in future social settings.

There have been many rulings made that were created to help and benefit these students, an example is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This was made to guide schools in creating an individualized education plan that can help these students be properly challenged to meet their full potential. But when you look at the stats, less than half of the states under this ruling have met the obligations for this Act which has shown a decline for these students performance. We, as an American society, are supposed to be providing and equal educational opportunity for everyone, tearing down any boundaries that separate people making them feel more included. When the special needs kids are separated, and not involved in everyday classes, they are missing an important part of feeling dependent. These students have to constantly be “babied” around and are never given the opportunity to learn how to be independent. So this educational issue is tied in with out Dependency key term analysis. We as a society, as future educators, are not providing the needs for these students in a school system, where they are learning how to do everyday things. If we can’t include them in the classrooms, if we can’t combine them to create a unity within the school, and if we can’t provide them with the skills to be independent on their own, then we are just holding them back. We are keeping them in an environment that is hurting more than helping.

This is an important issue because it’s these situations that are overlooked when it comes to helping the disabled, and making them gain the dependency skills they need. I would like to be a future teacher and I know that I would want to make a classroom that was accommodated for every type of person so that they can learn to their fullest potential while gaining the skills to become dependent.

IDEA

Disability Benefits Issue

For my last and final blog post of the semester I wanted to pick an issue that is familiar to my family and me. In the book The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time a specific part in the book stood out to me; not only the family aspect of Christopher’s family, but when Christopher went to school to take a test, and he was there waiting to take the test, and no one showed up. Christopher’s school made me think about education and how it connects to the government and government spending. In my past blog posts, I have written about personal experiences because it is easier for me to relate to the class. A common issue that has continuously came up is that it is difficult to get the government to pay my family money that my brother should receive through my father’s benefits through the military. I found online that it is not only my family that is having issues receiving these benefits but lots of other people are having the same issues; that I found through a newspaper article.

One particular story of a female popped out to me. This article was published by in September 2018 about how the waiting times for disability benefits claims and renewal times have increased significantly in the past couple of months. I find this very disheartening that governments around the world do not make people with disabilities a top priority. This female’s name is Emma Blackmore, and she states that she has been affected by the condition of being deafblind, and also suffers from epilepsy. Blackmore says: “I’ve had to prove my disability for so much of my life to people in the government, the benefit systems, the job centers. It’s an anxious time for anyone, but with the anxiety I suffer with, and epilepsy on top of that, it’s not great” (Independent News). My family and I can relate to this quote because it is very frustrating that people need and deserve these medical benefits because some people rely on them to survive. According to Kate Fitch, the director of policy and communications at disability charity sense: “These increases [in waiting times] are concerning and we are worried about the impact these delays have on an individual’s life, causing stress and potentially insolation as they will be unable to receive the support they’re entitled to” (Independent News). This quote portrays that with these delays on these claims there will be disabled people that cannot survive with this funding. This issue is important to me because this also affects my family. To relate this to Christopher’s situation, if the school did not have the funding or were late to receive their funding from the government; it would not be possible for a school to be open.  Children like Christopher would not be able to receive an education. This social model issue needs to be addressed because people with these disabilities need this funding to survive. We need to put people with disabilities first.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/disability-benefit-waiting-times-claims-dwp-reform-a8532711.html

 

 

 

Ableist Views in Media

In society today, we are quick to make assumptions about others and their abilities without considering many other factors. These ableist perspectives attach human value to certain abilities and fail to consider the implications for those who are excluded because of a disability. As a society, we need to be educated about the wide array of disabilities to better understand them before we make judgements about other people and their value. The ableist perspective has developed the social model of disability, where the environment and society produce a set of disability triggers, making the world we live in less accessible to certain groups of people. The environment we have created from these uneducated judgements is not accommodating to those with disabilities and differences, it also places obstacles for those who must overcome them. Many people with perceived restrictions and disabilities are still able to contribute in meaningful ways and they should not be perceived as inferior because of these features. These discriminative ableist views and environments can be seen in workplaces, schools, and many other public areas where opportunities should be fostered, not hindered.

These messages are also seen having a role in the media we encounter daily, and that is shown to us from a young age. Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer is a classic holiday movie that airs every year as Christmas time approaches. The story of Rudolph is well known as the reindeer who rises in the face of adversity and ends up saving the day, earning the respect from those around him and proving those who fought against him to be wrong. Many of our conceptions about disability are portrayed throughout the movie and address the terms and concepts we have learned about over the course of the semester. One of the most prominent themes in the movie is the concept of the social model of disability, where the environment produces disabilities and makes certain areas and activities more accessible than others. Rudolph, the misfit elf, and the toys of misfit island are marginalized by their community because they are different from the others around them. They are teased, asked to mask their differences, and excluded from events because of these features, creating an unwelcoming environment where they do not fit in with the stereotypical norms. The ableist views of the community believe that these marginalized characters are not useful because of their differences, despite their abilities to work in new, but different ways. This belief places limits on them and forces them to prove their worth. The movie has a happy ending where Rudolph saves Christmas by leading the sleigh, the misfit toys are delivered as presents, and the misfit elf is allowed to pursue his dreams of becoming a dentist. The message this movie sends is to be tolerant of those around us and to be accepting of those who are different from us. Not every story of disability in the face of adversity has a happy ending, and we need to be aware of how we can correct these discriminative ableist views to create equal opportunities for everyone.

The WaterBoy

Whether looking at past entertainment or certain tv shows of today, people with disabilities were, or in better sense, are often ridiculed or made out to be the butt of the joke. Shows like Family Guy and The Simpsons do this all the time as a way of issuing comedic relief. In fact, one of the main characters of both of these shows (both whom happen to be the father) are described to have a less than educated background and mental illnesses that keep them from simple everyday accomplishments.

Another clear example of this would be the 1998 hit Adam Sandler comedy, The Waterboy. It is about a man with a intellectual disability, that proves to be “worth something” in the end because he can play football very well. Even though it is just a movie, it says a lot about how people with mental disabilities are depicted. The Waterboy’s main purpose is to ensure the laughter of the audience but the way it does so is distasteful. Bobby Boucher, the main character of the movie, is a studdering man-child that cannot seem to do anything without the help or approval of his mother, he later is taughted for this very reason. His only outlet of feeling on his own is being the waterboy to the school football team, until he gets fired for being a “retard”, as the coach calls him. The language surrounding him holds truth to how people with intellectual disabilities are treated in life beyond the screen. They are made out to not be “intelligent enough” to do anything on their own.

Bobby later gets another job as another waterboy in the film, but on this team he is also recognized for being able to play the sport as well (only because he sometimes cannot control his anger of course). This also adding to the belief that people with disabilities cannot control themselves. In the end, he plays football very well, even helps the team win the championship and after spending time in college he graduates with a degree. This, of course, sounds a lot like the big finshes in movies where the person with a disability overcomes what they thought would defeat them, “breaking the chains” of what was thought of them. All coming to a conclusion of a movie filled with disability stereotypes.

Disablity as a deformity

Often in today’s society, people want to diagose things so they can easily be “fixed”. Especially in cognitive disablities, it seems so much easier to stick a label and medicate the percieved issue. This diagnostic culture creates so many issues. Not all disablities need to be fixed. Some of them have no cure.
I have a younger brother Ryan who is seven years younger than me. He is extremely energetic and I love him very much. He seems like a pretty normal kid to most. However, he is diagnosed with severe ADD and some other mental disablities. As he gets older, its hard to write off the things he does as “just being a kid”. When something does not go his way, he can cry for hours. Tasks that are simple for others to learn, such as easy vocabulary words, cause him immense stress. I remember in high school i would stay up late with him and teaching him about fractions to percents, frustrated that he could not understand something i found simple.
When he was in 5th grade, he was moved to a special learning class. he had alot of friends before, but he after that he was grouped as one of the “stupid” kids. It was harder and harder for him, and he made it harder for us. When we cant understand what he wants, he resorts to punching and yelling. My parents made a choice to not medicate him as his brain has not fully developed, and the reliance on meds might negatively shape his brain functions. HOwever, so many people want to know ” What’s wrong with that kid?” My boyfriend asked me that the first time he met him. I get embaraessed to let Ryan meet people, because of that reason. He constantly interupts and does not have a filter. I still find it hard to accept that he is not acting like that on purpose. And even I find myself asking ” What’s wrong with him?”
However, there is nothing wrong with him. That’s just the way it is. My mom has been told its her fault, as Ryan is the youngest, and she was “too old” when she had him- she was 37-38. We were told he needs to be on medications, not from doctors, but from well measnaing friends. This is the part of society’s issue. They constantly need a diagnose and a reason why it happened. It makes people feel better to think that Ryan didnt get enough attenteion as a child, or my mom was too old. Ot makes people go, “I wouldn’t do that to my child. It wouldn’t happen to me.” It could happen to anyone. But I would never change my brother. I love him so much, and there is no one who can make me laugh as much as him.

Toxicity of Diagnostic Culture

In my sociological theory class, we often describe the ways in which our lives tend to line up with the theories we are discussing. It not only enables us to work on our application of theories but aids in our ability to see the ways in which these theories truly interact with the social world. Most recently we have been studying post-structuralism and more specifically Michel Foucault. In his book “The Birth of the Clinic”, Foucault coins the phrase “the medical gaze” which pertains to the form of power that physicians hold in determining the things “wrong” with us simply through observation. This has lead also to the phenomena of preventive care which deals in trying to combat problems before we even know if they will be problems. Foucault discusses this as being particularly detrimental to our society. It allows patients to be seen as their illness rather than being viewed as an individual. One of my classmates then tied this to diagnostic culture in our society especially when it comes to children. She told us about her experience working at a daycare. One of her kids is incredibly energetic and often struggles to sit still. She smiled affectionately when talking about how they would give him run breaks during the day in order to help quell his struggles with focus. His mother, however, would often tell them that she really felt he had ADHD and needed to be on medication.  This is not to judge the mother because I have absolutely no idea what it is like to raise a child but this is a perfect example of our constant need for diagnosis. We view personalities as something to be normalized and corrected using the “guise” of illness. This allows us to look at the ways that we allow our perceived notions of normalcy to justify medicating and othering parts of our population. This diagnostic culture is quite honestly a product of the medical gaze and displays the ways in which our good intentions can often lead to flaws in our society.

Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán on Pexels.com

It is not Amtrak’s pleasure to accommodate

I took the train to travel home to Connecticut for Thanksgiving this year.  On the return leg of my trip, I was standing on the platform with my mom waiting for the train to arrive.  As the train approached, it slowed down enough for the conductor to speak to the large crowd of people huddled on the narrow platform.  He was telling us that the train would make two stops: the first stop to board a disabled person and the second to board everyone else.  The second conductor at the back of the train was unaware of what was going to happen and became agitated with the first conductor.  Upon enlightenment of the events coming in the next few minutes, the second conductor rolled her eyes and it was written all over her face that she was irritated that there was an extra stop just to accommodate someone with a disability, a service that Amtrak is supposed to happily provide.  When the train made its first stop for the disabled person, there seemed to be no one present that needed boarding accommodations.  When the second conductor yelled out, “Where’s the person? Who did we even do this for?” a woman appeared from the crowd.  My mom said, without thinking anything of it, “She doesn’t look disabled.”

With my new awareness of disability, I thought about these two things and realized society is like a train.  Our society is based on efficiency, punctuality, and in general, time; society is focused on speed; how fast we can complete things and even how fast we develop as people.  Very similar to a train which waits for no one, our able-bodied and able-minded society is reluctant to wait for anyone.  This shows how our society associates disability with slowness and delay.  To that train conductor, setting aside time to make an accommodation for a person with disabilities was a hassle and time-consuming, and would ultimately delay the train.  This also brings up the concept of social spaces; boarding a train in a limited amount of time was not designed for any person with disabilities; Amtrak assumes the accessibility of its passengers and does not train its employees well enough to be considerate, patient, and accommodating to all passengers.

The second thing that I thought about was my mom’s comment of how the woman did not look as if she was disabled.  I know she didn’t mean anything negative by it, I used to think in this way before taking this class too.  Our society defines disability by what we determine as failure to meet the normal range of the physical and mental ability of most people.  For many of us, we look immediately for severe external markers of disability, the physical abnormalities that would require assistance to board a train for example.  People, such as my mom, looked at the woman and at first glance assumed her efficiency and ability based solely on external appearance.  Yet from taking this class, I have been exposed to the fact that there are many diverse levels of physical and cognitive ability.  There is not only an ultimatum of abled and disabled, there is a whole spectrum for ability in between.  I have no idea what accommodations the woman needed to board the train, but I know that many people, including the second conductor, questioned her legitimacy because there were no outstanding signals that she had a disability.  She looked as if she was within the normal speed of abled people, when in fact, the woman could have had a physical impairment invisible to the amateur eye or a cognitive impairment that required special assistance.

Upon further online research, I found that other people have noticed Amtrak’s failure to accommodate passengers; people agree that Amtrak is less than welcoming to passengers with disabilities.  Mainly Amtrak is being called out for failure to provide well-accessible restrooms on board the trains, platforms that are level with trains, and ramps.  The National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) has been speaking out against Amtrak:

“Our reviews show that Amtrak’s negligence goes beyond simply ignoring the Americans with Disabilities Act, but demonstrates a deliberate disregard for passengers with disabilities,” said Curt Decker, executive director of NDRN. “If you are a person with a disability who wishes to travel on Amtrak, the message is pretty clear: you are not welcome here.”

Additionally, the NDRN reveals that

“Congress recognized [Amtrak’s failure to accommodate passengers with disabilities] upon the passing of the ADA and gave Amtrak 20 years to come into ADA compliance. This plan would allow joint owners of stations, who are also responsible to meet ADA regulations, the opportunity to share costs. However, Amtrak did not meet this 2010 deadline. Furthermore, Congress gave Amtrak funds directed at accessibility improvements when recognizing that ADA compliance would not be possible by 2010, yet we still see a failure to make necessary accommodations for people with disabilities.”

I did not realize the extent to which Amtrak fails to accommodate disability when I witnessed the exchange between conductors and passengers on my return trip.  In addition to the lack of physical accommodations in Amtrak train stations, I want to point out that their staff also does not give the same customer service to passengers with disabilities as they do to abled passengers.  Trains represent how our society thinks about disability; slow and delayed, unable to catch up, and unable to keep up with the normal speed of the abled.  To combat this, Amtrak needs to come to full compliance with the ADA like they were supposed to 20 years ago, they need to create transportation that is universally designed for everyone.  Transportation is such a crucial part of our society, we are always moving.  For people that are not able to use this main form of transportation, they are excluded from the normal pace of society.  We need to think about efficiency of the entire group of people instead of every man for themselves.  Additionally, I want to stress is that the employees of Amtrak need to be respectful and patient with all passengers, no matter their ability.  Currently, it is not Amtrak’s pleasure to accommodate.

Opinion of the National Disability Rights Network: http://www.advocacymonitor.com/is-amtrak-really-an-option-for-people-with-disabilities/

Amtrak’s Disability Policy: https://www.amtrakoig.gov/sites/default/files/reports/ada_final_report_1006.pdf

Image: https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/virginia/trains-va/

Note: Ashland train station is an example of Amtrak’s inaccessible stations.

Disability and Trauma

During 2015, a group of students had filed a lawsuit against the Compton school district. The students want the district to revise their ways of dealing with the students in Compton. The schools go straight to punishing the students instead of trying to help them. Many of the students attending in the Compton school district have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event. Dealing with traumatic events can greatly impact a child’s ability to perform well in school. This lawsuit could impact school districts nationwide to provide mental support to students and training for staff to understand how to work with these students. The students want to receive the same accommodations as those with learning disabilities, but the Compton school district believes “…that trauma isn’t a disability. They argue that attaching the stigma of disability to kids because they come from poor, high crime neighborhoods would be devastating…”(KQED). There is much discourse in regards to whether trauma can be considered a disability. Some who experience trauma show signs, but there are some who do not. It can be difficult for someone who has experienced trauma to define themselves as someone who is disabled because of the negative connotations that have been in placed on our society. Those with disabilities are seen as less able, dependent, and imperfect by members of our society.  Trauma is usually tied to a certain event which then causes it to be based on individualized terms. Disability has no clear categories or distinction of what caused it.

 

Are Traumatized Students Disabled?

Trauma as a Disability