Friday, March 30, 2007

"Why Our Perspective and Presence As People with Disabilities Matters"

Ruth, from Wheelie Catholic, writes of society's need to better understand and respect the perspectives of people with disabilities. She says that this understanding and respect is essential to real inclusion.

I know from my educational experiences that a major hurdle is getting an able-bodied teacher or staff member to recognize that I have a perspective that is likely unfamiliar to him or her. Of course, recognizing that people with disabilities have unique perspectives isn't even remotely possible if respect for our humanity doesn't exist first.

2 comments:

Ruth said...

Good point! Thanks for the link and the additional insights, too, David.

Dave Hingsburger said...

Hi, David, I totally agree with you. I think that one of the reasons for the existance of people with disabilities, differences of any kind - is that the outsider status gives us a very unique way of seeing the world. A way that should be honoured and sought out not suppressed or oppressed. Dave Hingsburger