Susanne,
With all due respect, I adomantly disagreed. I am paralyzed from the neck
down and have had GREAT success through direct interaction and on-going
conversations with non-disabled people conveying both negative and
positive aspects of living with a disability. By establishing a deeper
relationship than can be achieved by simply conveying information about
specific topics, students who have until now had little to base their
perceptions on (other than what they've seen on television and in the
newspaper) have the opportunity to understand that disability is not
something to be feared. They quickly learn that we are PEOPLE who have
disabilities, not twisted, freakish objects to be ignored, pitied or
shunned.
We do indeed have guest speakers with various disabilities come to class
to address a variety of issues, but these people don't provide the same
dynamic as those who are willing to invest their time to create a bridge
of understanding between the non-disabled and PWDs. In addition, those
who have participated have on several occasions shared with me that they
felt as though they gained as much or more than the students did. They
(nor I) have ever considered themselves under scrutiny or "objects of
investigation" as you put it.
While I agree that another person could not understand the full breadth of
my experience, I strongly believe that we can certainly learn from sharing
our trials as well as our triumphs with others. Otherwise we may never
learn how to appreciate (and in fact celebrate) the wide the incredible
diversity of the human experience.
Janette
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