Socio-Autobiography Essay

Disabled people have always been associated with discrimination from other members of the society who are not faced with mental, physical or any other form of challenge. Some of the notable cases entail harassment, abuse both at home and by the public, rejected by employment and possibly insurance companies and being given relatively lesser chances and opportunities than the ones given to individuals without any form of disability. However, what these notions fail to mention is that the discriminations are founded on the misconception and fear that has been nurtured and engrained in the fabric of the society with the help of the disabled.

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Most individuals who are disabled individuals prefer segregating themselves from other members of the society with the fear that their condition is not understood and any help or assistance given to them is based on pity due to their situation. The laws and policies that have also been set aside to protect people with disabilities have tended to give them a notion that they are weaker than other members of the society, thus resulting in lowering self-esteem and even lower delivery regarding meeting expectations. Such tendencies are what have informed mot members of the community in their choices to fail to understand individuals with disabilities thus discriminating against them. Having poor self-esteem and inability to perform plays a significant role in agitating individuals with the disability as a result of feeling sorry for themselves or feeling segregated. However, what they do not know is that individuals without disability try to work as hard in accommodating them so they not feel left out. For example, in employment, an employer has to consider the work pace of an individual with disability due to their ability to work with various machinery and even possibilities of them missing work due to their condition.

Additionally, individuals with mental disabilities may take a much longer time to read, understand and interpret documents. Therefore, accommodating individuals with disabilities is not an easy task and sometimes may be done at the expense of the progress of other projects. These considerations should be a motivation for people with disabilities to try and fit in the world of those without disabilities as much as individual's without disabilities try. However, there is a need also to reevaluate possible misconceptions and misinformation about disabled individuals to change any possible oppression and discrimination against individuals in the society whether disabled or not.

Senior, (2015) analyzes the work of Silberman on "NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity." She establishes that among the 200 children administered in a clinic in Vienna to be treated for autistic psychopathy there is a common factor that defies the rules of the society regarding with children with autism- geniuses. This attribute is due to the ability of the children to be fascinated by laws, regulations, and schedules; socially awkward and with advanced skills (Senior, 2015). The shame, fear, and stigma associated with autistic psychopathy are attributed to Kanner whose research ended up blaming parents for the condition of their children (Senior, 2015). Therefore pointing fingers instead of looking for ways in which children with autism could fit in the society became the norm that guided the society's perception towards autism. The historical figures were responsible for devising scrupulous precisions towards curing of the disease rather than integrating measures aimed at giving individuals with autism the services they require (Senior, 2015). The lifetime of misdiagnosis aimed at finding a cure for autism creates a society that fails to appreciate the interaction and understanding of the condition due to fear that is cultivated as a result of seeing the condition as a disease rather than a gift (Senior, 2015).

Erevelles and Minear, (2010), justifies the relationship between disability and various factors of the society with devalued characteristics such as racism and gender by an analysis of the murder of an old, overweight black woman. Multiple scenarios are categorically analyzed such as the case of the officers being influenced by the racial perspectives in seeing a black woman with a knife thus resulting in shooting her despite being harmless to the well-armed and trained officers (Erevelles and Minear, 2010). Therefore, her race serves as both a context and magnifier to the scenario causing the institution designated to protect her to cause perilous harm to her by killing her. Institutions and bodies that are responsible for representing individuals considered to be marginalized by the society end up clashing with each other as a result of ignoring the intergroup differences.

Some groups are also considered important than others while other groups end up being rejected to be categorized by the intra-categorical framework. An example of such groups is the disability group (Erevelles and Minear, 2010). Historically, the association of race in the USA with people of color has been used in the justification of brutal and segregation action against individuals falling into either category. Therefore, disability became a construct of the society based on social differences such as race. Therefore, stereotypical references to residential disability segregation such as reservations and even genocide (Erevelles and Minear, 2010). Individuals consequently used the ideology of disability as a justification for inequality through invoking the differences among individuals both biologically and economically to maintain the social hierarchies set in the societies (Erevelles and Minear, 2010).

Erevelles and Minear, (2010), highlights the story of Junius Wil-son, who became blind as a toddler resulting to his father deserting the family and forcing the mother to send him to a school for the colored blind and deaf. The school further did not emphasize on teaching Wilson the same things taught in schools for white deaf children. Therefore further isolating Wilson from the society of the deaf. Expulsion of Wilson from the school further threatened the wellbeing of the community because he waved arms and had a habit of touching people (Erevelles and Minear, 2010). The latter also motivated accusations against him for trying to rap the neighbor's wife resulting to being sent in a county jail where Wilson lived I isolation for three years.

Another historical misdeed against individuals with disabilities is the case of Cassie who was segregated from other students, criticized and called untamed by teachers due to her inability to fit within the curricula of the school. Just like Wilson Cassie ended up being subjected to prison-like conditions as a way of punishing her (Erevelles and Minear, 2010). The rejection and torture subjected to Cassie resulted in her involvement in habits that were considered socially unacceptable resulting in expulsion from the school. After Cassie's mother realized the circumstances her child had to school in and threatened for legal ramifications is when the school administration offered Cassie another chance and the various resources she needed to succeed in her education. Both Cassie and Wilson's case as seen depicted by Erevelles and Minear, (2010), to be discriminatory acts against individuals with disabilities as they are considered inferior and disrupting to the normal functioning of the society.

Garland-Thomson, (2016), defines being a disabled as an identity that entails moving from isolation to being a part of the community, from exclusion to admittance, from obliviousness to knowledge, and from indignity to pride about the condition. Additionally, Garland-Thomson, (2016), mentions that most people in the world are born with disabilities and the range from being recognizable to others not known. However, these individuals try not let their conditions be a downside by putting a lot of effort in how they can fit in the society and manage to carry on with their daily lives through their interpretation of the world they live in (Garland-Thomson, 2016). Garland-Thomson, (2016), further emphasizes that most people with disabilities just like those without are not appreciative and acculturated with the condition like any other social aspect such as race and gender. Institutions and people with disabilities are also in conflict with how they should be referred to, and the same confusion extends to the society not willing to learn non-offensive ways of dealing with people considered disabled. Individuals with disabilities are barred from fully participating in their citizenship rights such as other members of the society as they are not found in the planning of the policies, social privileges such as education, access to places; or any other political rights (Garland-Thomson, 2016).

Disability is, therefore, an identity that has to be learned and appreciated for one to be conscious of it and understand it. This identity is created by acceptance of who an individual as a disabled person both on his side and by the society as a whole. Therefore efforts should not be made at trying to make a disabled person nondisabled but rather such efforts should be the cooperation of individuals not faced with such challenges (Garland-Thomson, 2016). Garland-Thomson, (2016), also appreciates the efforts by institutions, laws, and regulations; and individuals in trying to change the social perspective of people with disabilities by fighting for their rights and making sure efforts are made for them to belong.

The work by the authors mentioned above wholly changes my perception of individuals with disabilities. People with disabilities just like any other person in the society year to belong and to be understood but not to be considered ineffective or less privileged. They put extra effort such that their disability is not identified as a basis or their discrimination by other members of the society. Disability segregation and discrimination is also a creation of the society in a manner that it helps in upholding the unequal social standards and hierarchies set. Since people do not learn from past mistakes qualities considered inferior by the misinformed social norms established further acts as stereotypes to categorize and negatively judge people with disabilities. Thus, impairment of individuals such as Wilson casts a shadow in the way the society views them, and further segregation measures such as race and gender play an amplifying role in the situation by further diminishing the way he is treated. Irrational and sometimes aggressive responses from people with disabilities is, therefore, the failure of the society to understand their identity and further treat them harshly. The society should consequently implement policies and strategies aimed at accommodating people with disabilities are they not in any way inferior to other members of the society.

References

Garland-Thomson, Rosemarie (2016). Becoming Disabled. New York Times. Retrieved on 18th August 2018 from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/21/opinion/sunday/becoming-disabled.html

Erevelles, N., & Minear, A. (2010). Unspeakable offenses: Untangling race and disability in discourses of intersectionality. Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies, 4(2), 127-145.

Senior, Jennifer (2015). 'NeuroTribes,' by Steve Silberman. New York Times. Retrieved on 18th August 2018 from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/23/books/review/neurotribes-by-steve-silberman.html