I don’t
know about the rest of y’all, but I felt pretty convicted while completing our
reading and video assignments this week. Not that this is a bad thing at all!
It definitely helped me recognize my shortcomings and areas of my life in which
I need to improve, which I know will help me become a better social worker. I
absolutely love the idea that differences should be celebrated—that differences
are not scary or bad or that there are good ways or bad ways to be different. Like
Rosie King says, “Why not celebrate uniqueness?”
Previously,
I had not given a lot of thought to “ableism.” In fact, it was a pretty foreign
concept to me, which isn’t too surprising considering it is “minimally examined
and understood” (Peters). But after reading “Recognizing Ableist Beliefs and Taking
Action as an Ally,” I realized I have definitely done some things that fall
under the individual limiting factors. For example, one that really stuck out
to me was the act of not acknowledging a person with a disability. I don’t do
this with bad intentions or to be rude or purposefully exclude someone from
society, but rather with the mindset of not calling attention to someone’s
disability. However, now I know that ignoring someone definitely does not make
them feel any good either! I love that I’m able to learn about how to treat
people better every day in this class. As for institutional supportive factors,
I think there is definitely power in the positive portrayal of disabilities in
the media because, let’s face it, the media is extremely influential! That’s
why it’s encouraging to see agencies starting to use people with disabilities
in their modeling campaigns. I also looked into “My Left Foot,” the movie that
is mentioned in the reading, I watched the trailer—it looks incredible and I hope
I get the chance to watch the whole film soon.
I think
that people that are both elderly and have a disability fall under the
intersectionality theory we learned about a few weeks ago. I absolutely love
the idea of using the strengths based theory with this population! (That’s one
of my favorite theories.)
The
readings over Christian privilege were especially eye opening because I do
identify as a Christian. I’ve always known that as someone who practices
Christianity, I am part of the dominant group—the group that never has to worry
about missing school for religious holidays and being catered too in other
ways. I’ve never realized how extreme it is though—for example, time itself is centered around
Christianity. However, now that I understand the meaning of “ally,” I know that
just because I identify with one group does not mean I cam be an agent of
social change for another group. I think that previously, I hid behind the idea
of “I can’t relate to this group, therefore, I don’t need to try to make a
difference for them.” But now I know that I can, in fact, be an ally, and
eventually an activist, for people of not only different religions, but races,
gender identities, sexual orientations, abilities… the list goes on. Because
again: “Why not celebrate uniqueness?”
Sources:
King, R. (2014). How autism freed me to be myself [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/rosie_king_how_autism_freed_me_to_be_myself.
Adams, M., Blumfeld, W., Castañeda, C., Hackman, H., Peters, M., Zúñiga, X. (2013). Readings for Diversity and Social Justice. New York, NY: Rutledge.
This week’s readings were really eye opening for me too. I had never really thought about ableism until a few years ago, and ever since then it’s become increasingly apparent to me. When I first met my boyfriend, I didn’t know that his little brother had Down Syndrome. When I met his little brother, I had no idea how to interact with him or what he could understand and do. Sometimes, years later, it is still hard for me to know what he means through his unique ways of communicating. This is how I first realized how weirdly we treat people with different abilities. Like you, I am sometimes guilty of not looking directly at someone with a physical disability because I don’t want to call attention to it, but at the same time it is exclusionary. There are so many situations like this that many of us are ill-equipped to handle because it isn’t really addressed. Like you, I love the idea of using strengths based theory with people who have different abilities. Like Rosie King was saying, some things are hard for her but she also has some advantages like an amazing imagination and creativity. My boyfriend’s little brother is non-verbal but he is better than other kids at some things, like how he has an incredible memory and is really fast at running. It seems absolutely critical that we learn to better emphasize and focus on these kinds of things instead of awkwardly trying to not acknowledge that we are different.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog post, and I too was moved by the readings and videos assigned for this week. The idea of being an ally to a disadvantaged social group also resonated with me, and I appreciate your comment, “just because I identify with one group does not mean that I can cannot be an agent of social change for another group.” I too often have the mindset that I do not directly relate to some disadvantaged social groups in our society. Therefore, I respect the action that they are taking to fight for social justice, but I am not a member of that group so I do not take any action, even though I care about the cause they are fighting for. Reading about allies in this chapter of “Readings for Diversity in Social Justice” (2013) showed me that this does not have to be and should not be the case. I should be passionate about social justice for many different groups of people no matter if I am a member of that group or not. Allying with those who are different than myself is one practical step that I can take to celebrate uniqueness and differences, as Rosie King (2014) emphasizes in her TED Talk. Constantly striving to be “normal” and looking down on others because they are “abnormal” fuels discrimination and limits people’s desire to embrace their creativity and imagination. Instead of striving to be normal, I hope to further show my own uniqueness and ally with others as they celebrate their unique characteristics.
ReplyDeleteAdams, M., Blumfeld, W., Castañeda, C., Hackman, H., Peters, M., Zúñiga, X. (2013). Readings for Diversity and Social Justice. New York, NY: Routledge.
King, R. (2014, September). Rosie King: How autism freed me to be myself [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/rosie_king_how_autism_freed_me_to_be_myself?language=en#t-395248
It's definitely true that ableism is something that is not discussed anywhere near as much as it should be. Prior to this class, I considered myself to be pretty educated in regards to most of the "isms," however I realized I never even considered ableism. I too have been guilty of not acknowledging a disabled person, as to not call more attention to their disability, but I now realized that this could make them feel like less of a person and is definitely not the right thing to do. My senior year of high school I became friends with a guy named Braeden who has cerebral palsy, and spends most of his life in a wheelchair. When I first met him, this was all I saw, but now I know him as an amazing guy who went to college, loves music, and plays the mandolin in a bluegrass band that performs regularly. Being friends with Braeden taught me to not look at someone and see only their disability, but to look at them knowing that they have so much more to offer to the world. While I do not identify as a Christian, I enjoyed the paragraph where you discuss your religion. I think it's awesome that you focus on uniqueness when so many others (christian and non-christian) use our differences to divide us rather, and that you see the privilege that comes with the Christian religion. These are also things I never thought about until this class and I think it is so great that I am learning how to be a better advocate and a better future social worker.
ReplyDeleteSarah, great blog post!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your vulnerability in your blog post. I can relate to the conviction you felt because I as well felt that way during the readings and TED talk. It also allowed me to see areas where I need to improve on and also aspects where I need to be more vocal for those who do not have the same privilege as I do. Like you said ableism is something I did not really think about until this assignment. As someone who has been involved in the special needs community through various relationships and organizations, I would have thought this would have crossed my mind previously. But it has not, I think because my privilege has blinded me from hardships others face that I will never have to experience. I like that you touched on the media topic, because media can portray various groups to appear certain ways that is not true representation of the individuals belonging to that group.
I am also a big fan of strengths based theory, and the positivity it brings to a situation that is typically approached in a negative fashion by the majority.
Lastly, I can relate to you on the feelings you had towards the Christian privilege. This is a privilege I also possess and a belief I chose, coming from a family of non-Christians. I knew Christianity was the dominate religion here, and that many holidays and government organizations have ideals that relate to Christian beliefs. But when you brought up that time is centered on Christianity, that was eye opening to me. This was a concept I have never thought of until now.