Although this class is not my first class dealing with individuals with disabilities, I have learned a lot from both the readings and the discussions throughout the course of this class. I find it extremely crucial to recognize and respect differences in others. I find that differences are what make the world interesting, otherwise we would all be the same, and that would be extremely boring. In addition, I am not sure as to why society is so scared of individuals with disabilities that it feels the need to constantly devalue these individuals and oppress them from reaching their dreams. After reading through these different articles, my eyes were opened to just how present individuals with disabilities were in history, although historians usually choose to leave them and their strides and struggles out of the history books. I feel like that is only adding to the misperception and uneasiness that society feels about individuals with disabilities. We must seek to understand life for individuals with disabilities; we need to also realize that that does not mean that we have to go and “fix” their lives, because sometimes that is exactly the opposite of what they want. We must be sure to not oppress them further, even if we think we are doing them a service.
I am going into the elementary and special education field, so I know that the information I acquired in this class will greatly benefit my coworkers, my students, and myself. It only takes one person who truly understands how to respect the beliefs and practices of others, even if they are different from his/her own, to make a shift in the thought process that engulfs a professional field. If I can show other professionals in my field the “real” aspects, rather than the aspects that society chooses to show the majority of people, I believe that we can all better understand differences and therefore move forward into a more collaborative and beneficial working environment. It is my passion and my goal for my career that I would show students with disabilities that they can achieve just like every other student, even if society tells them that they can’t . I want to help those individuals reach their highest potential and essentially give them the same opportunities that are easily given to other students without disabilities. If we all learn to value differences instead of discriminate because of them, the education field, and the world could definitely become a better place for all.
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