Q:Pick one concept from the reading this week and discuss it in detail
A: The topic that I would like to talk about today is the little orange section labeled as Diversity on page 205. Throughout my life I have dealt with and have seen a lot of disabled and elderly. I'm not sure if it is because I enjoy talking to them or if I just happen to meet them and talk to them just because. I ｈａｖｅ ａｌｍｓｏｔ ａｌｗａｙｓ ｄｅｖｅｌｏｐ ａ ｗｏｎｄｅｒｆｕｌ ａｎｄ ｆｉｌｌｉｎｇ ｒｅｌａｔｉｏｎｓｈｉｐ ｗｉｔｈ ｔｈｅｍ ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ ｔｈｅｉｒ ｗａｙ ｏｆ ｌｉｆｅ ｉｓ ｓｏ ｄｉｆｆｅｒｅｎｔ ａｎｄ ｔｈｅ ｄｅｔａｉｌｓ ｗｈｉｃｈ ｔｈｅｙ ｓｏａｋ ｕｐ ａｒｅ ｄｉｆｆｅｒｅｎt. For example, my freshman year high school English teacher was blind. Most students in the class laughed at him, made fun of him, and purposely caused trouble just because he was visually impaired. I gradually started to go to class early because lunch was right before this class just to join him for a few minutes. It felt really sad to see him eating all by himself and feeling around everything to find his dropped spoon or his lunch bag. So, I sat and spoke to him and I learned so many new things. Turns out, if you are blind you can still see light, dark, and movement. He has like supersonic hearing and and listen to lots of words per minute and the "fly noise" that was really popular because most teachers couldn't hear it. I think that everyone that is disabled in anyway should be respected. There is no need to be fake and baby or treat them much different than how you would treat a random stranger walking by on the street.
Hi there,
ReplyDeleteThis story both exemplified the worst and best in human nature. It is horrible to see people treat another human, especially one that has a disability and is vulnerable in such a fashion. I am glad to hear that stepped in and provided some compassion! I cannot imagine what it must feel to live a life that would make you feel so secluded from the rest of society, even the very people that you are teaching and instructing. I am sure that you made a huge impact on his life, which is not something we do on an everyday basis. It is great that you were able garner some insight from him as we'll. I wonder if people that have certain disabilities have a tougher time in methods of communication, not because of their limitations, nut rather because of the perceptions that others have of them.