“About Being Considered ‘Retarded.’” by Amanda Baggs gives a great perspective on how those who have a disability are considered to be inferior or less human due to them being different from the societal standard of “normal”. To Baggs the way she looks and processes information is normal however compared to standards that society has placed she is different. To me Baggs is conveying the message that we label individuals who are different in this case those who have a cognitive disability and segregate them being considered normal due to the label of retarded.…
Employ the reading “Transcontinental Dissonance” and course notes to explain how disability may be considered a social construction.…
Autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and Down syndrome are only a few names listed, but are some of the most commonly found disabilities in many children and teenagers. These individuals are surely impacted greatly from these disabilities, but they are otherwise just as equal as everyone else. However, if one isn’t treated with the equality they deserve, how does that impact the rest of their life? In Cammie McGovern’s Say What You Will, Matthew and Amy are new friends aspiring to have a memorable high school end, while also dealing with the obstacles and judgement that come with having their own disabilities, like obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and cerebral palsy. Throughout the novel, McGovern demonstrates that because…
Throughout the essay, “Becoming Disabled” by Rosemarie Garland-Thomas, her main claim that she argues is that she wants the disabled community to be politicized in the eyes of society. First, Garland-Thomas talks about politicizing disabilities into a movement. She compares and contrasts movements for race and sexual orientations to the movements about disability (2). Disability movements have not gained as much attention as race or sexual orientation movements because so many Americans do not realize how prominent disability separation is in America. She wants people to start recognizing that disability is just as important as race and other movements. Next, Garland-Thomas speaks about different types of disabilities and how they aren’t always…
Society shapes us in a tremendous amount of ways such as, our ability level. Some individuals can’t do certain tasks physically and mentally. Some individuals can’t understand as quick as everyone else can and others don’t know what’s right from wrong. Events that have happened in our lives can shape who we are and how society looks at us. In “Of Mice and Men” there is a grown man named Lennie who has the mind of a child, but no one knows that except George and people think he’s dumb. Lennie’s ability level mentally is lower than average and that is what we would call mentally challenged in today’s time, but back then society didn’t know there was such a thing as a mentally…
This is best portrayed in the 1997 film Gattaca, where a futuristic dystopian society displays extreme segregation between the genetically-engineered “valids” and the unwanted “invalids,” those born of natural birth. Even after several years of exercise and studying, Vincent, who was born of natural birth, could not change the fact that he was an invalid and resorts to literally changing his identity in order to be accepted into Gattaca. Today’s society is beginning to resemble Gattaca in the sense that the physically and intellectually competent are sometimes looked upon as having more worth or value than one who is not. Although a disabled man might not be able to contribute to a society as much as Albert Einstein did, it does not change the fact that he is still a human being who is just as capable of being appreciated and loved by others. Therefore, labelling a person with disabilities as being “retarded” or “mental” and treating them as an inferior is being dangerously…
She explains how disabled people were denied rights in the early days, the media’s influence and the current dilemma many of them face. One example was her explaining on how she was told about “a boy with Down syndrome” (pg. 445) “who wasn’t allowed to go to school” (pg. 445) in a small town Georgia neighborhood. Later we see the passing of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1975 followed by Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990. She explains the promotion of Tropic Thunder and its exploitation of the word “retard”. Bauer also used statistics to back her claim of stigma that America has on those with people with disabilities even in the modern era. Research was conducted by University of Massachusetts found that “half of young people wouldn’t spend time with a student with an intellectual disability”. (pg. 445) “More than half of parents didn’t want such students at their children’s school” (pg. 445) Towards the end, she argues against the stereotype or predictable future of a person with disability. She explains the surprising success her daughter has had despite the fact she has Down…
The disability rights movement is the fight for equal rights and opportunities for people with disabilities. In the 1800s, it was considered generous that the disabled were segregated from society. Many were regarded as freaks or aberrations, and were consequently locked up in asylums and sanitariums. In the early 1900s, the Eugenics Movement began to grow, which specifically targeted people with disabilities. A multitude of disabled people were forced to undergo sterilization, in an attempt to prevent genetic imperfections.…
People continued to believe they were not fit for society. People would lock them up and keep them away from society because they were ashamed of the mentally handicapped. Society members also believed that if they allowed the mentally challenge to live their lives, they would bring more unattractive people into the world. Today in society, we have more knowledge about the human mind and have better medical treatments for the mentally handicapped. Society members are more caring and willing to help, whereas, in the 1920’s people didn’t know much about them and wanted them vanished from the country.…
Next I’ll talk about how this field came about and grew in terms of poularity. Occupational therapy originally came avbout during the age of enlightenment in the 1700s. At that time the mentally ill were trated very poorly because they were considerd to be threats to society and as a result many of them were locked up or put insane asylums. And so In the late 1793, Phillipe Pinel and later on William Tuke began what was then called "moral treatment and occupation", as an approach to treating people with mental illness which became based on purposeful daily activities. They advocated for the using of arts and physical exercise, and work as a way to "heal" emotional stress, thereby improving one's ability to perform activities of daily living they alos focused on "consideration and kindness” as a way to treat the ill. 1840-1860 were the 'prime years' for the use of moral treatment and occupation in American hospitals.…
Disability Rights In the 1800s disabled people were considered meager, tragic, pitiful people unfit and unable to be in society except for entertainment. They assumed that they were simple minded and abnormal tons of people went under sterilization. Most disabled people were admitted to institution and asylums where many spent their whole lives. Separating the disable with the able was considered merciful actions, but it just served as a way to keep disabled people hidden, invisible, and out of site from a world that was fearful and unfair.…
Society comprises individuals and communities of remarkable diversity. In addition to racial, ethnic, social, economic, and religious differences, people also have physical differences, which include a wide spectrum of abilities. Along this spectrum lie a range of impairments, or disabilities, and to fully understand the implications of impairment and disability, it is important to define the two terms. In an effort to accomplish this, and to illustrate two opposing views on impairment and disability, the ideas of artist-activist Liz Crow and film director-producer Josh Aronson will be examined. In doing so, the argument will be made that in order to move toward a society where prejudice and barriers no longer…
Beginning in the late 1800’s, the disabled were housed in institutions. Evidence of this is shown on http://paul-burtner.dental.ufl.edu/oral-health-care-for-persons-with-disabilities/societys-attitude-toward-people-with-disabilities/ when it states “Beginning in the late 1800’s, institutions were built by state and local administrative agencies to house people with developmental disabilities. These institutions were usually built on the outskirts of town.” This suggests, the disabled were disrespected by putting them into institutions far from others.…
As racism, discrimination and prejudice against citizen with mental disabilities has been a part of our culture for many decades, it seems as we have found peace with all of this after many years. During the early nineteenth and twentieth century people where not at peace with citizens with mental disabilities, for they were being mistreated and institutionalized for having mental disorders. Many did not see people with mental disabilities as equal citizens, or even helpful to the community even though they were just as equal as everyone else. They were discriminated on badly during the 1950’s and 60’s just as much as African Americans were. Unlike back then, today this would be frowned upon not including citizens with mental disabilities. Although in To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee highlights how there is prejudice going on against people born with mental disabilities, her purpose for writing this show the social norms, and the cultural context during the time period of the novel taking place with such a strong hidden message for citizens.…
What many people did not realize in the past was how mentally challenged people, are still people and deserve…