Monday, November 18, 2013

Citizenship In Schools

Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome


Reflection




Now we know that people with disabilities can learn and have a full, rich life. The challenge is to erase negative attitudes about people with develop mental disabilities, get rid of the stereotypes and break the barriers for people with disabilities. (Kingsley, 1996, p. 6). Most of the time individuals put labels on people with develop- mental disabilities because they don’t see deep within that individual to actually come to the realization that they are just like us. They feel, learn, and do many of the things we can. We tend to focus more on their apparent differences instead of their similarities to us, which then leads to the creation of these dominant barriers which disables us to see that we are all humans. In my high school the children in the special education classes were basically a joke. There was this one boy who really liked receiving hugs from girls. He had the tendency of hugging for too long and tight, so his teachers would only let him hug if he promised to let go. The sad part is that none of the girls wanted hugs from him and instead began laughing and ran away. I can remember how frightened and upset he was just by looking at his face. So I took action and every morning I would give him a giant bear hug, I could see the excitement and joy I brought to him just by looking in his eyes. It made me sad to see how he, and along with his peers were treated so differently by the other students. This reminded me of SCWAAMP because I believe that in society there are things that we value and sadly develop-mental disabilities or even any disability in general is not valued.

Question to ask: Has this ever happened in any of the other high schools you guys attended?

4 comments:

  1. Hey Nelsy,
    To answer your question I haven't had that specific experience no but I did have a classmate with downs syndrome in my homeroom back in high school. He was a real nice kid and we used to talk quite a bit and I still do see him from time to time. It never bothered me any that he had a disability because he was a nice guy and was fun to talk to.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Nelsy,
    I have had the same experience as you! There was kid named Mikey who had Down syndrome and loved giving hugs, but often didn't understand his own strength and you felt as though you were being crushed to death. In reality I think he just wanted to be close to someone and giving big hugs was his way of doing that. Also I love the way you worded this part of your blog "They feel, learn, and do many of the things we can. We tend to focus more on their apparent differences instead of their similarities to us, which then leads to the creation of these dominant barriers which disables us to see that we are all humans." Great job :)
    Bekah

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree with what you had to say and I think that you made a good point. At schools people do not give others a chance especially with disabilities. you're right we are all human and there really isn't a reason to be mean to others... It's just a hug.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I agree with you Nelsy because everyone deserves the opportunity of acceptance because we are all equal. There is no person who has some trait or characteristic that makes them better than others. However some people believe that from their surroundings. For example, their friends or family or the media. These people might be influenced to not show any acceptance to people who come off as "different." It bothers me because everyone has something they wish they could change so no one has the right to not accept someone who might be physically or mental impaired.

    ReplyDelete