by Cynthia Roebuck
The United Nations (1982) reported “more than 500 million people in the world are disabled as a consequence of mental, physical or sensory impairment” bringing global attention for a need to create environments where disabled people can participate fully in society. Participation through socialization and interaction with our environment is how our sense of identity, beliefs, and attitudes are developed (Lerner, 2002, as cited in Manago et al., 2008). But when was the last time that you had a meaningful interaction with a disabled person not in your family? What about viewing a positive role model of a disabled person on more than one or two TV shows? This lack of opportunity to interact with disabled people results in seeing all disabled people in one homogeneous category that is discriminatory. This creates attitudinal barriers where all disabled people are seen to have deficits (French, 1996; Sanders & Dubois, 1996, as cited in Albiero-Walton, 2003, p. 4). I would like to take this opportunity to address a few positive events and activities that diminish this schema and highlight interventions that are creating a better world through normal interaction, culture/media, and sports.
In the news recently (Kenosha News, 2015), there was an enlightening and happy story about a cheerleader from Kenosha, Wisconsin. During one of her basketball games, some mean kids in the stands started to taunt her, and one of the players during a time out went and told these bullies to stop. The school has since renamed the gym D’s House in honor of Desiree Andrews, the tween cheerleader with down’s syndrome who cheers on the team’s squad. This is the result of a cooperative learning environment that the school has provided for its students that would allow Desiree to participate. Desiree and her classmates win valuable lessons of how our similarities associated with being human can be more rewarding than comparisons of our differences. Plus, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2015) requires schools to provide opportunities for students to interact with their classmates in some regular classroom settings, and cooperative learning projects have shown success in that students without disabilities step up to assist friends with disabilities and vice-versa (ERIC, 1993). This results in the healthy relationships we can see here and reduces social categorization.
(Courtesy of Kenosha News (2015) via PBS all rights reserved.)
Reality television is also assisting to break these negative socially constructed stereotypes that Kama (2004) has described as the supercrip or pitiful handicapped, but as she rightly notes the disabilities are not socially constructed (p. 450). One example is Season 25 of the Amazing Race (CBS, 2015). Bethany Hamilton played that season, and after one episode of observing Bethany, you forgot she had a disability even though she only had one arm. This is a result of reality television giving the viewer an ability to watch contestants interact through the game in a more natural and real way. This allowed for new social norms to form in the minds of the viewers empowering viewers to see similarities without focusing on the differences. This enhances our culture and is a powerful tool for rapidly advancing outdated and unhealthy behaviors resulting from bad schemas formed from stereotypes seen on television.
(Courtesy Nathan Rupert (2013) all rights reserved.)
Equally important is the ability for disabled persons to be able to participate in sports. This month in Seoul the International Blind Sports Association (2015) had its World Games where athletes competed in football, goalball, judo, powerlifting, showdown, swimming, tenpin, and chess (IBSA, 2015). Missing from their events, but surely to be added soon is an up and coming sport of tennis. The International Blind Tennis Association (Benson, 2015) is now established in several countries with a meeting last year in Texas that proved very promising for its entry into the USA. These are important activities empowering individuals with vision impairments to lead more normal lives.
(Courtesy IBTA (2014) all rights reserved.)
In conclusion, legislation, recreation, culture, and sports are the only realms addressed here. However, it is important to note in addition to these areas the United Nations (1982) calls for an “equalization to opportunities” in the realms of “physical environment, income maintenance and social security, education and training, employment, and religion.” The answer to attaining these goals can be found in some of the interventions listed here, but these are not inclusive. We should continue to strive for environments and activities that enable disabled persons an ability to participate in the activities that make up our normal days. This will break the negative stereotypes and unjust schemas that participation through collaboration and interaction with one another creates (Aronson, 2010).
References
Albiero-Walton, J. (2003). General Self-Efficacy of College Students with Disabilities. Paper presented at the American Counseling Association Conference. Retrieved 16 March 2015 from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED473634.
Aronson, E., Wilson, T.D., & Akert, R.M. (2010). Social Psychology. Seventh Edition. Prentice Hall. ISBN 10:0-13-814478-8.
Benson, C. (2014). First International Blind Tennis Congress Meet in McAllen. USTA News. Retrieved 19 March 2015 from http://www.texas.usta.com/Wheelchair/first_international_blind_tennis_congress
_meet_in_mcallen/.
CBS. (2015). Bethany Hamilton. The Amazing Race. Retrieved 21 March 2015 from http://www.cbs.com/shows/amazing_race/cast/214927/.
ERIC. (1993). Including Students with Disabilities in General Education Classrooms. ERIC EC Digest #E521. Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content2/Including.Students.html.
IBSA. (2015). Seoul 2015 ABSA World Games. Internatonal Blind Sports Federation. Retrieved 19 March 2015 from http://ibsasport.org/.
IBTA. (2014). XXXI Campeonato Nacional De Atletism Para Ciegos Y Debiles Visuales, Merida, Yucatan. International Blind Tennis Association. Retrieved 22 March 2015 from https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10204192709807173&set=oa.252804728250225&type=3&
theater.
IDEA. (2015). Building the Legacy: IDEA 2004. U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved 22 March 2015 from http://idea.ed.gov/.
Kama, A. (2004). Supercrips versus the pitiful handicapped: Reception of disabling images by disabled audience members. The European Journal of Communication Research. 03412059/2001/029-0447.
Kenosha News (2015). LINCOLN MIDDLE SCHOOL CELEBRATES D’S HOUSE. Retrieved 12 March 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gva_cWjBdw.
Manago, A., Graham, M., Greenfield, P., & Salimkhan, G. (2008). Self-presentation And Gender On MySpace. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, Retrieved March 16, 2015.
Rupert, N. (2013). Bethany Hamilton surfing at Oceanside today. Retreived 21 March 2015 from https://www.flickr.com/photos/nathaninsandiego/9439290296/in/photolist-fo7Q9q-43z9A9-43uYrJ-43uYrf-fnSAbk-fnSyPR-fo277Z-fo7M3f-43uYrw-cGLRpq-4aRuVG-fnSyrg-fnSxoa-o9J12p-hTuyve-7CPaQm-7cPn9K-pEbL8j-39Goh9-fo7DcV-e24Pen-e2aEbY-e2aPto-e24qgp-e2aKRC-cyUrRA-9xWBXa-e24GF6-e2aRxN-e254h4-e2aHsE-e24Aag-e2anKs-e24onn-e24xUD-e2amSf-e2a8Gq-e24yHx-e2aiQb-e2atxb-e24pb4-e2528B-e24zxM-e24QUi-e254UD-e24EYi-e25aGZ-e24Mz2-e2adT7-e24sfg.
U.N. (1982). World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons. United Nations. Retrieved 19 March 2015 from http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=23.
Tags: disability, ENABLE, social norm, socially constructed reality, written by Cyn Roebuck