PEOPLE FIRSTBy: Katelin Macken

SEEING THE BEING People with disabilities

1st and foremost are PEOPLE

A Fighter

A Believer

SEGREGATING DISABILITIES Each person=

Different personalities, different likes and dislikes, different hobbies, different food choices..

A person with a disability is NO different

SEGREGATING DISABILITIES About 54 million Americans are disabled

People with disabilities are feared, assumed hopeless, charity cases..

People with disabilities are capable of achieving anything a person with no disabilities can do

(http://www.txddc.state.tx.us/resources/publications/pfanguage.asp )

I win!

STEREOTYPING

Stereotyping dies hard

A person with disabilities seek Respect.

Struggle each day with discrimination, transportation, affordable health care, housing, and employment opportunities

DISCRIMINATION

Public awareness and knowledge= better understanding of individuals with disabilities

DISCRIMINATION “The moment a little boy is concerned with which is a jay and which

is a sparrow, he can no longer see the birds or hear them sing.” ― Eric Berne

If you just look at the physicality of a person, how can you ever appreciate the person inside and admire what they have to offer?

(http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/discrimination)

A painter

Love to travel

STICKS AND STONES …But words may hurt me.

You may think a person with a disability does not understand what you are saying, can not comprehend your insults as you discriminate them right in front of their face.

They are human beings. They have a heart, a brain, and instincts to dictate when they are not accepted and when they are being made fun of.

Treat all others they way you would like to be treated.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT Go out of your way to help someone in need

Start a conversation with a person who has a disability

Talk to him/her as you would a person without a disability

Emphasize abilities, not limitations. Example: A man walks with crutches; not he is crippled

Avoid negative words; tragedy, suffers, victim, prisoner, or unfortunate

Promote understanding, respect, dignity and positive outlooks

“I love to write.”

A carpenter (& his wife…)

BODY LANGUAGE “You make someone into a object of – not so much of pity as of weakness,

sickness, stupidity, ineffectiveness, do you see what I mean? You hit them for their stupidity and their inability to respond, and when you’ve hurt them, marked them, they’re even more sick and ugly, aren’t they? And they’re afraid and cringing too. Oh, I know this isn’t very pleasant, but you did ask.” “Go on” he said. “So you’ve got a frightened, stupid, even disabled person, silenced, made ugly, and what can you do with someone like that, someone who’s unworthy of being treated well? You treat them badly because that’s what they deserve. One thinks of poor little kids that no one love because they’re dirty, sovered in snot and shit, and always screaming. So you beat them because they’re hateful, they’re low, they’re sub-human. That’s all they’re good for, being hit, being reduced even further.” ― Ruth Rendell, Simisola

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/discrimination

SOLDIERS Imagine… Men and women fighting for our country. Going into battle with all

limbs, health as strong as an ox, and the mentality of sacrificing their lives for yours. They are wounded in battle, but they survive. Coming home a leg and an arm short of functioning. However, now they are not looked upon as a Hero, but as sad and vulnerable. A person who can not fight for our country any longer. A person who was once independent and strong, appears dependent and weak. Did they loose that fighters mentality? Did they give up on their country? A person’s assumptions are only brought on upon by his/her own mindset. To confront that soldier, to challenge his limitations, not only defines you as a person but a person who you have inevitably brought back to life.

limitations

Surpassing expectations

AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT Prohibits private employers, state and local governments, employment agencies

and labor unions from discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities in job application procedures, hiring, firing, advancement, compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment.”

An employer is required to make a reasonable accommodation to the known disability of a qualified applicant or employee if it would not impose an “undue hardship” on the operation of the employer’s business. Reasonable accommodations are adjustments or modifications provided by an employer to enable people with disabilities to enjoy equal employment opportunities.

http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/fs-ada.html

United we Stand

“I regard it as a duty which I owed, not just to my people, but also to my profession, to the practice of law, and to the justice for all mankind, to cry out against this discrimination which is essentially unjust and opposed to the whole basis of the attitude towards justice which is part of the tradition of legal training in this country. I believed that in taking up a stand against this injustice I was upholding the dignity of what should be an honorable profession.”

-Nelson Mandela

Black or white, tall or short, skinny or fat, legs or no legs.. Discrimination exists only if you want it to.

Divided we Fall…

  http://thinkexist.com/quotations/discrimination/2.html

A DreamerAn Inventor

REHABILITATION ACT Section 504 “Section 504 states that "no qualified individual with a

disability in the United States shall be excluded from, denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under" any program or activity that either receives Federal financial assistance or is conducted by any Executive agency or the United States Postal Service.”

The Rehabilitation Act prohibits discrimination similar to those used in Title 1 of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

http://www.ada.gov/cguide.htm#anchor65610

TODAY’S PROGRESS Remember: We are all human beings. People

with disabilities have instincts, have a chance to succeed and fight for everything people tell them they can not do. Equality is what defines us as a country, as a community, and as an individual. Act in optimism.