Blog #8

 Eliminating Ableism in Education

Thomas Hehir

Samantha Marsella

Quotes

        "Cyndi Jones, a disability activist and former poster child, argues that “the poster child says it’s not okay to be disabled . . . but it says if you just donate money the disabled child will go away” (p. 4)."

This quote is saying that money is an easy solution for people to not have to worry about children of disability. They can easily pay to not have to look at them or even see them out in public. The poster in the quote is implying that these people deserve pity as well. They want you to feel bad for them instead of respecting them for the way that they are. Until they can prove that they can overcome their disability and not be affected by it anymore.

"By using American Sign Language (ASL), the school demonstrated that literacy could be raised impressively among the deaf (Baynton, 1996) (p. 5)."

Thomas Gallaudet had found a deaf teacher, Laurent Clerc. They had opened an American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb. They used American Sign Language (ASL) which improved literacy greatly. Another thing they had found was that these people were achieving higher levels in literacy than the neighboring schools. This then led to many deaf people holding leadership positions in their communities.

"I contend that negative cultural assumptions about disability continue to have a negative influence on the education of children with disabilities (p.4)." 

When people have negative thoughts and do negative things to people with disabilities then they think down on themselves. If a teacher never calls on them in class, then they are going to think that they aren't smart or know the answer and this is why they are never called on. If a child is always in the lower classes because of their disability, then they will think they aren't smart enough to be in the higher classes.

Below is a video on how to change the way we talk about people with disabilities. That people come first before their disability.

Bing Videos

Have you ever encountered someone with a disability? Did you change the way you looked or spoke to them? We find that people feel bad for these people and give them a different type of treatment. But all these people want is to be treated like everyone else so that they can feel normal.