I am 22 years old and a senior Music Education major, concentration – violin, in college. I have worked in a nursing home for 5 years and in retail for 2 years. I have a mother and father who are high school sweet hearts and still married, a little sister, and a dog and cat. I am engaged. I am a private violin/viola instructor with many students. I have more friends than I can count. I support myself financially. I have an anxiety disorder. I am not incompetent.
I’ve had a fairly easy life that at times I’ve thought was the hardest thing ever. After taking SPED 330- People With Disabilities: Social Discrimination and Oppression, I’ve realized that I have a fantastic life and I haven’t suffered through anything. Nothing I’ve had to go through has been hard, compared to what some of the people I’ve read about have gone through.
I have been around disabilities for as long as I can remember with my grandfather, mother, aunt, sister, and so on. I never had one and was always ashamed of my family and wouldn’t have friends over because of it. Recently, I was diagnosed with the anxiety disorder and my entire outlook on everything changed. It’s amazing what having a disability does to someone. It opens up their mind and their heart to look at things for the way they really are – beautiful. I don’t even have a severe disability, but that was enough to make me see things in a different light.
Taking this class has helped me understand the struggles that those with disabilities face, especially those with physical disabilities. The amount of work people have to go through just to get something is astounding. The policies set in place are constantly changing, which is a good thing as change isn’t always bad.
I’ve learned that things aren’t always what they seem. I’ve also learned, through the readings, how to treat people with disabilities. They don’t want to be pitied. They just want to be seen as a human being, because that’s what they are. The way that society has taught us to treat those with disabilities is disgusting. Movies use villains that often have disabilities, but the good guys typically don’t. Telethons have been used for pity or belittling, not always intentionally. The government thought that a disabled person could survive on $300 a month…with big medical bills. Society has taught us wrong.
I am going to be a music teacher and believe that I will be able to incorporate students with disabilities in my classroom. A student in a wheelchair can still play the music games that make you move in circles or dance down aisles. A student with down syndrome can still play the instruments that the other students are playing. There is no reason that these students shouldn’t be included.
My goal as a music teacher is to include everyone and allow them to do everything to the best of their ability. Who knows, maybe they’ll teach me something!-I can’t wait! More importantly, I want students to know that they can always come to me and confide in me, especially those with disabilities. These students are looked down upon and the students who are ‘normal’ don’t understand that the way they’re treating the other student is wrong. They haven’t been taught correctly – society hasn’t taught them correctly.
My classroom will be a positive environment and an open door, willing to teach students not only music content, but also other things that they should learn as they’re growing up, like how to treat others with respect and dignity, never looking down on them because they’re a little different. Who knows, maybe the ‘normal’ people are really the ones who are different…
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