Currently there are 1,050,000,000 people in the world who are living with a disability, that is about 15 percent of the world's population (Disability). With so many people living with some sort of disability, why do people have so little respect for a disabled person? Stereotypes are the main reason for this. In the book Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe, stereotypes are what cause an entire culture and village to break apart. The colonizers in the book have repulsive stereotypes against the African people, causing them to have no respect for the natives (Achebe). Stereotypes still have the same destructive power today, which then cause people not to have respect for the mentally disabled. Some stereotypes people have against the mentally disabled, including the idea that they can not work, pay their own bills, or be civilized (Myths). When someone is so focused on the stereotypes of the mentally disabled, they can only see the differences that people have; because they were born differently, people do not give them the respect that they deserve. In addition, by stereotyping the disabled population, people are believing that a person with a mental disability does not deserve respect and should be treated like a child. One person who experienced stereotypes first hand was Rachel, who is a teenager that has autistic spectrum disorder. Once when Rachel had to go to the hospital the nurses and staff did not understand her disability and believed in the stereotypes placed on her, causing the staff to treat Rachel like a child (Real). People need to stop looking at the differences and start looking at the similarities so they can gain respect. This respect will lead them to see that a disabled person can hold a job, can pay their own bills, and can be very friendly. This should also allow people to stop treating disabled people like children and start treating them like adults. The word disabled when used to described a person, should not mean that the individual does not deserve respect.
Works Cited:
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Austin, Texas: Heinemann Education, 1958. Print.
"Disability and Health." WHO.int. World Health Organization, Sept. 2013. Web. 28 May
2014. <http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs352/en/>.
"Myths and Facts about People with Disabilities." Easterseals.com. Easter Seals Inc., 2014. Web.
29 May 2014.
<http://www.easterseals.com/explore-resources/facts-about-disability/myths-facts.html>
"Real Life Stories." Disabilityaction.org. Disability Action, n.d. Web. 29 May 2014
<http://www.disabilityaction.org/centre-on-human-rights/advocacy/real-life-stories/>.
I definitely agree that we should respect people with disabilities as we would respect any other person. It is not fair to them to be criticized and disrespected when they can not help that they were born with their disabilities. Great job!
ReplyDelete-Caroline Fruehauf (Lauren's friend)