Tuesday, May 1, 2012

When our teacher asked us how we would define disability several of us agreed that it was someone who can't do something. "Tell me more," she said. "What can't someone do?" "Well, a  person who is blind can't see," I replied. A classmate said, "A person in a wheelchair can't walk." We had lots of examples of people with disabilities and what they can't do. So our teacher made two lists on the board - Can't Do and Can Do. She wrote "see" under Can't Do, and then she asked us what she could put under Can Do for a person who is blind. We didn't respond at first. So she asked, "Eat pizza?" and we said "sure." She wrote it under Can Do on the board. That was just the beginning. We came up with a list a mile long of what a person who is blind can do. Finally she stopped writing and turned to look at us. "How come when I asked you to define disability you all said it was about something a person can't do? Look at this Can Do list! It's a lot longer and more interesting, and there are more things on this list that you can do too. Wouldn't it be better to focus on the Can Do list for someone who is blind? Wouldn't you want someone to focus on your Can Do list?" It made us think.

3 comments:

  1. I love this post! It is so true.Everyone is differnt, but we are all more the same than we are differnt.

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  2. I have to laugh when I hear that everyone's favorite definition of disability includes the words "can't do." Can a second grader drive a car? Can everyone speak Arabic? Can you play the violin? Not one of you may have a disability but there is something you can't do. How much sense does it make to define someone with a disability as someone who can't do something? A better definition would be someone who can do a lot of things, many of the things you can do, with accommodations, special equipment or modifications. Think of your own definition of disability and make it one that will raise awareness and be more accurate and reflect a positive attitude.

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  3. But isn't it true that we're all more interested in what someone can't do? It must make us feel better about ourselves to know that someone can't do something that we can do without any effort at all. It's another way of feeling superior and I guess we all want to feel that we're ahead of someone else in some way. We like competing with one another and winning especially if it's easy.

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