Covering disabilities in Health class?

[jenni-m]

I was reading another post, and this just popped into mind.

Include teaching material in school classes, which deals with and explains various types of common disability (blindness, paralysis, cerebral palsy, some things about people who use assistive devices, and so on...)

I think this stuff gets swept under the rug FAR too often, leading to gross ignorance in society. All too many people with a pair of working eyes, ears, hands and feet tend to assume that EVERYONE ELSE is just like them, then when they encounter people who aren't, they are clueless, and may even see it as 'strange'. It also leads to inaccessibility by the uninformed, for example not putting in a wheelchair ramp because they do not think of wheelchairs or get many customers that use them (which may be due to the fact there isn't a ramp, ironically).

Also I have read about people getting offended due to being 'forced' to comply with regulations for accessibility, "Those damn disabled people, always complaining about things, it's a hassle" etc etc.

Edit
And before anyone decries about deafness not being a disability... just humor me and look at the common view for the purpose of this post.

 

[August]

my health class was utterly retarded.

the book and syllabus devoted a great deal of time to "interpersonal relationships", as if no one knew that humans could develop social skills, interact with one another, and have sex. the whole class was basically "here's the male and female sex organs, here's a video of an embryo forming, and these are some examples of stereotypes"

disabilities were either completely overlooked or addressed in a completely useless and overly general, "we must accept people with disabilities" way (yeah, no shit). we never talked about them in class, or about the ADA, or about how disabled people are rejected by their peers and have to form exclusive cliques just to get along (but then, i guess we all do)

it wasn't until my job training at 19 years old that i first learned anything of value about disabilities. all throughout high school, no one ever bothered to say, "this is what it's like to be blind/deaf/paralyzed/mentally retarded/whatever", "these are the reasons these things happen," and "these are the things you should and shouldn't do when communicating with the blind/deaf/whatever"

public schools, and private schools too, i presume, do a nice job of wasting time on useless activities and spreading ignorance.

 

[deafdyke]

In third grade at my school, we had Disablity Awareness Week. I clearly remember talking about what it was like to be hoh.

 

[jillio]

I think a curriculum addressing disabilities should be mandatory for all schools begining at K or 1st grade, particularly with the popularity of mainstreaming today.

 

[Bottesini]

I think a curriculum addressing disabilities should be mandatory for all schools begining at K or 1st grade, particularly with the popularity of mainstreaming today.

I think it would be good. Avoiding much ignorance later in life. As long as kids with the particular disabilities did not have to be held up as example and asked about it.

 

[Oceanbreeze]

In third grade at my school, we had Disablity Awareness Week. I clearly remember talking about what it was like to be hoh.

We held one when I was in HS, and I hated it. It just brought more unwanted attention to me.

 

[jillio]

I think it would be good. Avoiding much ignorance later in life. As long as kids with the particular disabilities did not have to be held up as example and asked about it.

Oh, I agree. Anyone teaching a curriculum like this would need to be sensitive enough themselves to understand that holding up individual students as examples is completely innappropriate.

 

[Matilda]

Oh, I agree. Anyone teaching a curriculum like this would need to be sensitive enough themselves to understand that holding up individual students as examples is completely innappropriate.

Hear, hear!

 

[August]

Oh, I agree. Anyone teaching a curriculum like this would need to be sensitive enough themselves to understand that holding up individual students as examples is completely innappropriate.

unless someone wanted to volunteer to be a subject and answer questions and whatnot. that would be insightful.

 

[jenni-m]

We held one when I was in HS, and I hated it. It just brought more unwanted attention to me.

I understand, and know not everyone will agree with me.
Personally, I would rather endure a time of possible scrutiny for the sake of educating others, rather than pointless ignorance that would happen regardless.

At least one of the two scenarios has a possible benefit to improve the situation.

 

[Oceanbreeze]

I understand, and know not everyone will agree with me.
Personally, I would rather endure a time of possible scrutiny for the sake of educating others, rather than pointless ignorance that would happen regardless.
At least one of the two scenarios has a possible benefit to improve the situation.

You're not me, nor do you know what I went through. You may *think* you know, but you really don't . Lets just leave it at this. The so called "awareness" only meant to further my torment.

Enough said.

 

[jenni-m]

You're not me, nor do you know what I went through. You may *think* you know, but you really don't . Lets just leave it at this. The so called "awareness" only meant to further my torment.

Enough said.

The same could be said of you.

Not to be rude, but if you close yourself off, and -act- tormented, then that is how you will remain.

I wasn't trying to compare myself to you to begin with, so there is no need to be combative or defensive. If you don't agree, fine.

Moving on now...

 

[jillio]

The same could be said of you.

Not to be rude, but if you close yourself off, and -act- tormented, then that is how you will remain.

I wasn't trying to compare myself to you to begin with, so there is no need to be combative or defensive. If you don't agree, fine.

Moving on now...

Often, holding an individual student up as an example does nothing to increase awareness on a global perspective. A curriculum needs to be comprehensive to increase awareness, not directed at one specific individual's circumstances. Once kids have been provided with a more global perspective, they can then apply that knowlege to the idividual. It doesn't work the other way around due to developmental cognitive aspects in children's thinking.

 

[jenni-m]

Often, holding an individual student up as an example does nothing to increase awareness on a global perspective. A curriculum needs to be comprehensive to increase awareness, not directed at one specific individual's circumstances. Once kids have been provided with a more global perspective, they can then apply that knowlege to the idividual. It doesn't work the other way around due to developmental cognitive aspects in children's thinking.

I know, but I don't think that is the context this was in.
You are 100% correct about not purposely making an example of a student.
However, if such a student happens to be in the class, then focus will have a tendency to fall on them, regardless of whether it is planned or not. This is the context I am reading and responding with.

 

[jillio]

I know, but I don't think that is the context this was in.
You are 100% correct about not purposely making an example of a student.
However, if such a student happens to be in the class, then focus will have a tendency to fall on them, regardless of whether it is planned or not. This is the context I am reading and responding with.

Yes, focus will be transfered to the individual incidentally as a result of global application of knowledge gained from the curriculum. But incidental transference has the ability to increase awareness, where as puposeful focus does not.

 

[deafskeptic]

Often, holding an individual student up as an example does nothing to increase awareness on a global perspective. A curriculum needs to be comprehensive to increase awareness, not directed at one specific individual's circumstances. Once kids have been provided with a more global perspective, they can then apply that knowlege to the idividual. It doesn't work the other way around due to developmental cognitive aspects in children's thinking.

Indeed. I have always dreaded being set as an example that all deaf should follow. Not everyone has my talents or my speech and it's unrealistic to expect other deaf to follow in my footsteps.

I wonder if that was what happened to Oceanbreeze? If so, well no wonder.

 

[Oceanbreeze]

Yes, focus will be transfered to the individual incidentally as a result of global application of knowledge gained from the curriculum. But incidental transference has the ability to increase awareness, where as puposeful focus does not.

Exactly. What I experienced was purposeful focus.

I can see disability awareness being apart of a curriculum, but the material must be presented in a sensitive manner. Otherwise, the information gained can be used as ammo to hurt rather than help. That's what happened to me and why I generally don't support disability awareness being presented to that age group.

 

[jenni-m]

Ok, I think we got off track. I apologize.

It was not clear to me what the intent of some posts were, so I will ask, if you wish to discuss... please be clear on your intentions!

Emotive statements may be good for you, but they are not informative to others.

I don't think we have discovered anything yet that was not already known, I would like to continue this.

 

[jillio]

Indeed. I have always dreaded being set as an example that all deaf should follow. Not everyone has my talents or my speech and it's unrealistic to expect other deaf to follow in my footsteps.

I wonder if that was what happened to Oceanbreeze? If so, well no wonder.

Exactly. That type of exposure results in stereotypes and over-generalization.

 

[jillio]

Exactly. What I experienced was purposeful focus.

I can see disability awareness being apart of a curriculum, but the material must be presented in a sensitive manner. Otherwise, the information gained can be used as ammo to hurt rather than help. That's what happened to me and why I generally don't support disability awareness being presented to that age group.

And purosoeful focus results in disability being the defining characteristic of the person in the eyes of others. It actually impedes awarenes.