8 ms·

Maybe a minority opinion here, but I find the idea of trying to see what it's like to live with a disability first hand without taking a minimum effort to unde

Maybe a minority opinion here, but I find the idea of trying to see what it's like to live with a disability first hand without taking a minimum effort to understand the nature of the disability or how people with that disability typically deal with it is at best an exercise of very limited worth and and worst moderately offensive. The author quotes a statistic that 10% of the UK have speech difficulties. Does he believe that 1 out of 10 Brits is completely unable to hold a phone conversation? If not, then why is this the way he chooses to explore the disability? Assuming that he specifically wants to explore aphasia/dysarthria, did he ask an aphasic or dysarthric person how they approach having to make a phone call? If his goal is to truly understand the experience of living with their disability, how can he do that without approaching things the same way they do? Did he do the research to see that aphasia and dysarthria are disabilities that rarely occur in isolation? Because I don't see any discussion of that, and again, how can you understand the experience of an aphasic or dysarthric person without understanding the other disabilities that the average aphasic person also deals with?

kayodelycaon 3y ago
I’m of the same opinion. The author has no freaking clue. I broke my ankle in high school and I got zero support. All of the classes were on the third floor and the cafeteria was in the basement. 1. There was no elevator in the building. I had to use crutches to get up the stairs while carrying all of my textbooks. 2. I was required to attend gym class on the second floor of another building (no elevator) and change clothes in a room with no chairs or benches. Then I would sit in a chair while everyone did the assigned activities. 3. I was required to eat lunch in the cafeteria. I wasn’t given extra time. Occasionally there wouldn’t be enough food and I would get a single peanut butter sandwich while others had gone through the line twice before I got there. 4. I was late to every class and everyone watched me while the teacher waited for me to get to an assigned seat down a narrow isle. 5. I wasn’t given extra time to get to the bus after school. So I had to wait in detention for my mom to drive from work if I missed the bus. 6. Oh, I forgot, the second to last class of my day was on a different floor. So I had to go down and back up the stairs. I forgot how many weeks this went on until I had a walking cast. The whole thing lasted 8 weeks. The best part, I broke my ankle in gym class because I got tripped and knocked sideways during basketball. They called my mom to pick me up instead of calling an ambulance.
- throwaway2037 3y ago
  What year and what country (or development level)? I cannot believe this would be legal today in any highly developed country. Did you complain to school administrators? It would have made a great local newspaper article about mistreatment of (sometimes temporarily) physically disabled students.
  - kayodelycaon 3y ago
    Late 90s, United States. It was a tiny private religious school in a 1950s building with a bomb shelter. There was no school administration to complain to and no students with physical disabilities. I suspect they wouldn’t accept them due to a complete lack of facilities and policies.

kayodelycaon 3y ago

I’m of the same opinion. The author has no freaking clue. I broke my ankle in high school and I got zero support. All of the classes were on the third floor and the cafeteria was in the basement. 1. There was no elevator in the building. I had to use crutches to get up the stairs while carrying all of my textbooks. 2. I was required to attend gym class on the second floor of another building (no elevator) and change clothes in a room with no chairs or benches. Then I would sit in a chair while everyone did the assigned activities. 3. I was required to eat lunch in the cafeteria. I wasn’t given extra time. Occasionally there wouldn’t be enough food and I would get a single peanut butter sandwich while others had gone through the line twice before I got there. 4. I was late to every class and everyone watched me while the teacher waited for me to get to an assigned seat down a narrow isle. 5. I wasn’t given extra time to get to the bus after school. So I had to wait in detention for my mom to drive from work if I missed the bus. 6. Oh, I forgot, the second to last class of my day was on a different floor. So I had to go down and back up the stairs. I forgot how many weeks this went on until I had a walking cast. The whole thing lasted 8 weeks. The best part, I broke my ankle in gym class because I got tripped and knocked sideways during basketball. They called my mom to pick me up instead of calling an ambulance.

throwaway2037 3y ago
What year and what country (or development level)? I cannot believe this would be legal today in any highly developed country. Did you complain to school administrators? It would have made a great local newspaper article about mistreatment of (sometimes temporarily) physically disabled students.
- kayodelycaon 3y ago
  Late 90s, United States. It was a tiny private religious school in a 1950s building with a bomb shelter. There was no school administration to complain to and no students with physical disabilities. I suspect they wouldn’t accept them due to a complete lack of facilities and policies.