Reaction to Disability

Disability: when I hear the word used (a common occurrence in my work as a professor in a physical therapy program), it elicits both images and concepts. Growing up, most children are introduced to the images in words the older kids teach them, words adults perhaps have used to describe things deviant from the norm. I remember my first hearing of the "meant to be ultimate insult-word" retard. It was used as a noun and as an adjective, someone or something retarded. To a second grader, it meant someone was slow, mean, inept, or just not liked. The image was dull. What did it really mean? I remember asking my mom about this, concerned, but perhaps a bit of early scholarship as well. She introduced me to children who bore that label. I recall that their image was not the same as the image I felt when my cronies used the word on the playground. And so I learned concept. The concept of retarded was about real kids who had problems learning or functioning.

I use this example because disability images and concepts are blurred in our society. We use terms of disablement to describe poor performances, bad ideas, ridiculous behavior, deviant happenings, and uncomfortable feelings or perceptions. Disability related terms can stand along, like dumb, blind, idiot, maniac, lame, spastic, and a variety of other words used to insult or qualify the self or other as less than. Or they can metaphorically describe someone's luck, or insight lack; they can attach to almost anything from blind curve to lame duck politics, to ninga turtles. Even if done in gest, it is a significant and explicit choice to disable or alter something in status. No matter how someone defines the image or the concept of disability, the co-existence of these usages reminds me of societal perceptions.

In this HDI 600's purview of both issues and history, it was encouraging to see acknowledgement that disability is part of life. Regardless of the insensitivity a society or its individuals may present with, regardless of the ignorance or awareness of a given work place or school, those with disablement can influence their own direction, establish their own images, re-define the conceptualizations of disability through legal acts such as IDEA and The Americans with Disabilities Act, laws that mandate educational and civil rights for children and adults with disabilities.

I enjoyed exploring different models that are utilized for the purpose of establishing a fit for those with disability in the real-world. It was frustrating at times to recognize the barriers still faced and lack of resources to surmount them, but the efforts were inspiring and worthy. Family roles, therapist roles, teacher roles, counselor roles, and vocational rehab/employer roles were each variously empowered to identify the impacts of intellectual, physical, and sensori-motor impairments and the institution of plans to address integration into life at its various stages. From