Activity 2 Perceptions of Disability

Jean Kang

Page 3. Ursa Minor

• What do you think is Jody Barnes’s perception of disability? What do you

think the teachers’ and doctors’ perceptions are? Explain your answers.
• How would you feel if you had a child born with a disability? Do you think your
cultural background influences your views of disability? Explain your
answers.
• What is Jody Barnes’s message?

Meet with a small group of classmates or colleagues. Take turns sharing your
responses to the questions above, including the impact of cultural beliefs.

• Are your cultural beliefs and experiences similar to or different from the
others in your group? In what ways?
• What else did you learn from your classmates or colleagues that could be
beneficial to you as a teacher working with students with disabilities? When
working with parents?

Jody Barnes’ perception of disability is based on her own unique culture. Native

Americans tend to think that a child born with a disability is a design and a gift of

God. The person is unique and there is a purpose that he is given to the family. Jody

thinks her child is a mysterious gift from God with all stars laying out a certain way

as a symbol of God for a purpose when he was born. He is special. Teachers and

doctors’ perceptions are that the person with disability is unusual and needs to be

corrected or fixed medically or assisted with special aiding equipment or medicines.

Now with education such as our course, we know people with disabilities are just like

everyone else, most of them can do things as normal.

 I was born in China, came to the U.S. 25 years ago to study and pursue degrees

and intellectual work. In general, most Chinese people view people with disabilities

as weaker than general mass and need assistance to accomplish daily tasks. It

views them completely from a perspective of the physical appearance and with

general mass as a comparison reference without studying their personal emotions,

traits, talents, abilities, etc. So, I think it is biased. I think my culture background

influences my view of disabilities. Before reading Chapter 1, I viewed a person with

a disability as someone who always needed others’ help to perform daily tasks. Now

with reading of Chapter 1 and this website, I know it was biased due to cultural

background. People with disabilities are just like everyone else, they can most time

perform all the tasks independently.

I did not have a group since our class is an online class. But I believe some

people in our group if we had one would share similar views, and others may hold

unique views about a child with disabilities influenced by their cultures. Jody Baren

tells us that each person’s view about people with disabilities is different, with a lot of

views influenced by their own culture background. For example, Jody views her child

as a special design of the universe when the stars positioned in a unique way, or,

her child is a purposeful design of the God, and a purposeful gift to her family, and

the child is very precious. Her view is a perspective of native Americans’ view about

a child born with a disability. And it may be different from others.

Though we did not have a group, I could learn from the media and textbook. I

learned that treating students with disabilities and their parents with no bias is
 important. They deserve respect and deserve to feel the same just as everyone

else. Also, it is important to notice the difference of cultural background, and respect

parents who hold their belief and view about the uniqueness about their child based

on their cultural background.

Page 4 Film and Literature Portrays

• Identify a character who has a disability in the film or book you selected.
• Was that person portrayed in a positive or negative light?
• How did you feel about the way the character(s) was depicted? Explain.
• After viewing the film or reading the book, do you believe audiences or
readers come away with an accurate understanding of the disability and the
challenges it presents? Why or why not?

In the movie The Piano, Ada lost speech ability when she was 6. So, she couldn’t

talk for a lifetime. She communicated through piano playing and sign language that

her daughter translated for her. Ada was portrayed in a positive light. Although she

could not talk, she played the piano well and she could not live without playing the

piano as it was the way how she expressed feelings and communicated. And she

was brave and persistent in pursuing her passion music and the person that she

loved. Character of Ada was depicted in an attractive way that the audience

completely forgot that she was mute. The audience was attracted to her piano, her

music and her passionate and brave spirit. Actually because of her muteness, the

audience have a stronger feeling about Ada in her talent and spirit.

I believe that audiences come away with an accurate understanding of the

muteness of Ada and the challenges she faced. The movie evidently used the piano
 playing as a way of communication for Ada, that is a special language and demands

high intelligence to understand. And once a person, Baines in the movie understood

her piano playing, she felt so passionate about Baines, and fell in love with him. On

the contrary, her own newly married husband Stewart, did not care about the piano,

no mention to understand the piano. Ada just could not have any feeling about him.

So it conveyed the message that people with disabilities have their unique way to

express themselves and if we try to understand them, we can receive their message

as clear as, or even stronger than the way that the regular people express them.

And once they are understood, they are happy, appreciative, and encouraged. So,

we need to treat them all equal as people without disabilities and seek to understand

them as the way how they try to communicate.

Page 6. People First Language

Take some time to think about the following scenarios:

• Someone you know casually uses the word retarded to refer to a friend who
does not have a disability.
• Someone you know uses the word retarded in a derogatory fashion to refer to
someone who has a disability.

How would you approach these situations? Would you handle them
differently? Why or why not? Discuss this situation with others in your class.
Can you think of several different ways to respond?

I would handle them in the same way. In theory, nobody wants to be addressed

as retarded no matter whether they have disabilities or not. It is insulting and hostile.

It causes anger and conflict. So anytime when I hear this, I would say to the person

who uses the word, please stop using the word “retarded” because it is disrespectful
 and rude. I can think of a few other ways to respond besides the one mentioned

above.

1. What do you feel if others call you “retarded”?

2. Please be respectful. We do not use “retarded” to talk about others because it is

disrespectful. I need you apologize and correct yourself if you did not realize it

before. Please be careful next time.

3. The word “retarded” is offensive. It has a negative meaning. Nobody should use

the word to call others.

4. Treat others the way you want to be treated.

5. Please don’t call others “retarded” if you do not want others call you “retarded”.

Assessment

1. Some of these children have disabilities. Do you think people’s perceptions of

children with disabilities play a role in their success? Why or why not?
2. Based on your own perceptions, how would you feel about having these
children in your classroom?
3. If you were put in charge of a movie production about a person who is blind,
what type of perceptions would you want to make sure your film portrayed?

Yes, I do think people’s perceptions of children with disabilities play a role in their

success. It is because we live in communities and societies, we communicate in

many ways and exchange feelings and emotions. When a negative perception is

perceived by children with disabilities, these children feel hurt, disrespected, and

humiliated. And if these negative feelings accumulate, it could severely hinder a

child’s success.
 I feel it is a normal scenario to have children with disabilities in my classroom.

Though I notice they may need me to provide technologies, assistance, or

accommodations, I know once I understand them, they can communicate and act as

much as a child without any disability. They deserve all the respect, help and equal

treatment as others. And these children have their strengths just like others as well.

If we view them from strengths perspective, they can thrive.

If I were put in charge of a movie about a person who is blind, I want to make

sure that my movie portrayed the perceptions of love, passion, and strengths of the

person who is blind. I want to project out his strong spirit and passionate heart with

the directions he/she is pursuing or wants to pursue. Audiences want to see these

strong passion, warm hearts, and the amazing pursuits the person has. After all,

they are just like everyone else who has a life and a dream. What they do is to

pursue their dreams just like everyone else. And they can use all kinds of assistance

to reach their goals. And they deserve all the equal treatment.