What-is-disability essay: 1001 PDF

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Introduction What is disability? A disability is a condition That can affect ones’ mental and physical state, individual’s movement, activities, and senses. The condition starts off slow, and with time will potentially become a permanent aspect to life. The range of disabilities can vary from sensory, physical, neurology, intellectual and many more. There are many cases of disabilities where it cannot be visually seen as with a physical disability. However, the disability is still there and should not be viewed as a less important factor. Generally, the word ‘disabled’ revolves around the idea that the person is generally in a wheelchair, or who has lost their hearting or sight. This is a form of stereotyping that discriminates the disabled community. Being disabled can pose a challenge in the society. An individual can be born with a disability There are many cases of disabilities where it cannot be visually seen as with a physical disability. However, the disability is still there and should not be viewed as a less important factor. There is no racial target, ethnic target or any factor that distinguishes that a person will become disable based on their appearance and background. People with a disability or disabilities are human beings just like us. They live, they breathe, and they eat just like every human does. There should not be a unlevel field of treatment between a person with and without a disability. There is a certain barrier around a disabled individual that does not limit them to certain activities but makes it much more challenging to participate overcome their disability. With a few alterations and motivation, it can easily overcome the effects of disability. Some may be a permanent fix and others will make life a lot easier. Below I will discuss the types of disabilities, use of technology to aid in everyday lives, physical barriers and the social stigma where the society sees and treats an individual as disabled.

Disabilities As mentioned earlier, there are several types of disabilities that ranges in many fields such as physical, neurological, sensory and intellectual.

Physical Physical disability affects a person's mobility, dexterity or stamina. It can come in many forms, it is not limited to a certain function of a body part. A disabled person can have functioning/’normal’ legs but Their arms and hands are limited in movement or not function at all. Vice versa they could have a functioning/’normal’ upper body but be confined to a wheel chair due to immobility in the lower half of the body. Mobility interpolates how a person moves in their territory. Whether it is making small trips to the fridge to grab a drink or getting to work. For individuals with certain disabilities, mobility is ineluctably impaired. Many individuals are born with a physical disability. Others develop a physical disability due to accidents and severe injuries. The person disabled from birth, their lifestyle is challenging to begin with but overtime they manage their routine properly and precisely. From my experience thus far, with working at Attendant Services with physically disabled students at Carleton University, it has given me a whole new outlook on certain aspects on the disabled student’s life. One client was injured during a hockey game and unfortunately, he broke his neck. Due to this injury, he was immobilized. Before the injury he was an able-bodied and was able to participate in sports that did not require a wheelchair. Upon interviewing and asking the question how does being disabled challenge you in ways that being able bodied didn’t? His response was “everything is practically the same. I go on my day-to-day life, do the things that I did before. The only difference is things are much slower and I require assistance in simple tasks

such as, just putting on socks, shoes, getting dressed etc. I still play sports, I play wheelchair basketball, and every day I coach aspiring young adults in hockey” says Brett Nugent. Nothing is impossible, being disabled does not limit you from doing things that an abled bodied person can. Sensory Sensory disability affects the impairments of vision and hearing. Vision and hearing are two senses that can arguably be the most important senses that a human being can acquire. In our everyday lives, most individuals rely on these two senses to function and do day-to-day tasks such as driving (vision required) and talking to neighbours/colleagues/students (speech required). Despite the sensory disability an individual might face, there are instruments that can aid and help to see and hear better such as hearing aid and glasses. The glasses help us with visual aid, but the concept has moved from medical model to a social model where they are not perceived as “assistive technology”. “Graham Pullin, in his book “Design Meets Disability,” shows how eyeglasses have moved culturally from being a medical aid to a fashion accessory. People who use them are getting “assistance” in a very dependent way, but their cultural register has no stigma attached to it, the way that hearing aids still do” (Rosen). Glasses are not labelled as assistive technology but hearing aids, wheelchairs, canes, inhalers etc. are. Along with simple items such as eraser, pencil and calculators are labelled as assistive technology

Neurological and Intellectual Neurological disabilities are caused by immense damage to the nervous system which includes the brain and the spinal cord. “Neurological disabilities may affect a person’s capacity to move and manipulate things. A way a person acts, the way in which they process information

or how they tolerate, and express feelings may also be significantly changed” (IMVC). Intellectual disability puts a limitation on certain daily functions such as reasoning, learning and problem solving. Intellectual disability was once known as mental retardation. Individuals diagnosed with intellectual disability does not have a barrier around them in term of learning. They do learn and absorb information, it is just profoundly slower There are many parents that cannot cope or has a hard time dealing with reality that their child is disabled. “I wish my child did not have autism, what they're really saying is, I wish the autistic child I have did not exist, and I had a different (non-autistic) child instead” (Sinclair). A disability cannot be separated from the individual much less that the person can be separated from the disability.

Physical Barriers/Social stigma around Disability Often times people go out to party, on business trips, social gatherings, and other social events but sometimes these locations cannot be easily accessed by the disabled society. Many places do not have elevators, side curbs or ramps to go to shops, restaurants, banks, office buildings and many more places. It makes it impossible for the individuals to access these locations due to this restriction In that sense d o we argue that the person is disabled or the building itself. Being able to accommodate every individual despite being able bodied or not, should come naturally. Able bodied individual has the freedom to walk in any building without facing any issues. But physically disabled individuals cannot. Not all disabled individuals are limited to by the building structure. There are many other aspects to consider as well but, those who are in wheel chairs or powerchairs are the ones most effected. Having a disabled building can be challenging to several individuals. But the society might not perceive it that way. The society might challenge and argue it is the individual that is disabled.

The individual might not perceive themselves as disabled, instead, just a regular person getting by with their daily activities. Why does the society get to decide who is disabled and who isn’t? What gives them the right to give access and deny access to certain individuals based on their “disability”. Dr. Fritsch had an encounter with the public transport where the bus driver got to decide whether she was disabled enough or not to be able to use the ramp in order to get on the bus. “A few years ago, I tried to take a bus to a small town outside of Toronto. I checked to confirm that the bus I wanted offered accessible service, and when I arrived at the station, I was relieved to see a bus with the International Symbol of Access (ISA) pull up in front of me. But when I asked the driver to let me use the lift to get on, he looked at me incredulously and said I couldn’t use the lift unless I was seated and secured in a wheelchair. Although I couldn’t climb the steep bus steps, I wasn’t a wheelchair user. In that moment, as I stared at the ISA sign, I realized that I was both disabled and not disabled enough – or not disabled in the right way to access this accessible bus” (Fritsch). Conclusion To conclude, having a disability is not a disadvantage to a human life nor should those who have a disability be treated any differently. Disabled people have the same rights as able bodied people and should not be distinguish by the society or the community. Disability does not have to be physical in order for the person to be labelled as disabled. Neurological and sensory disabilities are not physically perceived, yet the individuals that possess them, either by birth or developed later on are still consider disabled. An able-bodied individual might look at disability differently, but they do not possess the right to judge and define what is a disability and what isn’t a disability. Furthermore, disability is a lifestyle for certain individuals. They didn’t choose to have this lifestyle but, they accept it and learned how to embrace it.

Bibliography Fritsch, Kelly. 2014. “Beyond the Wheelchair: Rethinking the Politics of Disability and Access” Briarpatch Magazine. https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/beyond-the- wheelchair Sinclair, Jim. 1993. “Don’t Mourn for Us” http://www.larryarnold.net/Autonomy/index.php/autonomy/article/view/AR1/html Rosen, Rebecca. 2013. “Why are Glasses Perceived Differently than Hearing Aids?” The Atlantic. December 3. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/12/why-are- glassesperceived-differently-than-hearing-aids/282005 https://imvc.com.au/youthservices/broaden-your-horizons/disability-information/neurologicaldisability/...