What we can do, what they can do?
Help people with disabilities is a dilemma. We can help disabled people in various ways however, it’s difficult to help every disabled person to know what they want. Personally, it’s good to help others but in the way they want. I am a normal person without disabilities yet, and I can’t feel the same feeling as people with disabilities. Thus, education is played an important part for people with disabilities. It‘s better for disabled person accepts themself first of who they are rather than ask for the acknowledgment of society. Therefore, disabled people can increase their confidence through education, and society should help disabled people in the way they wanted.
Help disabled people is similar to parents and children. Parents always want to give their children what they think is best, but it may not be what they want unless they ask. According to Matthew Beck, “Unfortunately, this lack of communication between engineers and the disabled community will perpetuate until engineers truly understand what disability means and how they can integrate these interpretations into their designs.”(1) The author indicates that the engineers do not consider what disabled people want when they design technologies and they don’t understand what is disabled mean to an individual. The start point is good but it’s hard to be perfect. For example, disabled people don’t want to use technologies to “fix” their bodies and notify others that I am a disabled person. The author Beck was lost the ability to hear for eight years and he thinks that it’s important to the engineer technologies knowledge not about how many cochlear implants they create, but it’s connected with how they created. Accordingly, “Consequently, I believe that engineers need to be able to understand this clarification because it shows how unnecessary it is to create a significant number of cochlear implants for the Deaf community if they do not approve of them. The able-bodied engineers do not realize that the goal of assistive technology is to help people live with their disabilities, not to remove them.”(1) Thus, normal people or people with an able body can’t have the same feeling as disabled people do so engineers of technologies may not be able to give what they need. Moreover, the products not only help them in the way they don’t want but also create misunderstanding. Additionally, the author may want people who are trying to help them know the knowledge about disabilities, so they can better understand what they need.
Nevertheless, the external help only works when the internal choose to accept. If disable people refuse to help, everything others do for help becomes futile. I am not asking disabled people to embrace the world but believe in themself. The win-win ending is disabled people increase their self-confidence and society provides external help by offering what they need. I understand that disabled people had a hard time, but they can only jump out of the box by themself; then the world can know what they need and who they are. Here is a quotation I think we all should know “Beauty is found everywhere. Our eyes do not show a lack of sense of beauty, but a lack of observation” (Auguste Rodin) When we believe and trust ourself instead of caring how others look at us, we will become invincible. At this time, education and positive thinking play an important role. According to a disability blogger, Chloe Tear claims that “We don’t have to be going at full speed all the time to be seen as a successful disabled person. We are enough just as we are, despite the pressures that might tell us otherwise.”(1) There are tips for disabled people on how can increase self-confidence and self-esteem maximize the positive and minimize the negative. Based on the positive think tips, “ Focus on your abilities more than your limitations. Everyone has both abilities and limitations. This is not to say that you don’t acknowledge that you have a disability, but rather, by focusing on and developing your abilities you can feel good about all the things you can do.”(1)
Countless countries in the world don’t have enough resources for people to receive education, and there are even fewer teachers are trained for specific skills for disabled people, such as sign languages. Besides the cost, some countries cannot even build one more school and hire one more teacher. In many countries, teachers do not have the confidence or the necessary skills to deliver inclusive education (Singal, 2015; Wodon et al, 2018). Inclusive education is only a small component of the training received by teachers and is not always assessed (EDT and UNICEF, 2016). However, there are countless opportunities and accessibilities as well. In the year 2020, anywhere has internet access, and there will be possibilities for disabled people to reach and seize the chance to say out loud what they want the world to know.
Finally, I believe that all human beings are born with no perfection, and who we are making us different than others and unique. Be confident, unique, and educate the people around that ignored or misunderstood the situation. According to Tear, “Disabled people can be positive, pessimistic, or somewhere in the middle. They can have good days and bad days. We can succeed without pushing our health to the limits. We also do not need to hide the realities and apologize for simply being ourselves.”(1) Change others mind about stereotype or basis can be easier said than done, but change and believe in ourself is more straightforward and effective.
Work cited:
Authors/Editors: et al. “The Challenge of Inclusive Education in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Other Education Study, 2019, elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/abs/10.1596/31005.
Beck, Matthew. “Technoableism: Is It Our Future?” Medium, The Trouble With Normal(Cy) — First-Year Composition, 5 May 2020, medium.com/fyw-ds/technoableism-is-it-our-future-d06d1a9edf5e.
Kent, Mark, et al. “The Pressure to Be Positive as a Disabled Person.” Chloe Tear, 12 Nov. 2020, chloetear.co.uk/2020/01/the-pressure-to-be-positive-as-a-disabled-person/.
Nidhi, Singal. Education of Children with Disabilities in India and Pakistan: an Analysis of Developments since 2000. 2015, unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000232424.
