What comes to mind?

Whatever you’re doing at this moment, please stop and ask yourself this question: “When I think of a person with a disability, I usually think of someone who………What comes to mind? Quickly picture these images, thoughts, and feelings. If you're typical, disability probably evokes a mixture of feelings and thoughts influenced by centuries old beliefs involving stereotype, stigma, and devaluation (Gartner & Joe, 1987; Longmore, 1985). Most of us prefer to think that disability happens to "THE OTHER GUY." Yet, according to Statistics Institute of Turkey (www.tuik.gov.tr) figures, 8.5 million people – 13 % of the total population- have a disability (physical and mental).

Disability is a common experience that we view as uncommon. Similar to culturally diverse populations based on race, ethnicity, and gender, many students hide their disabilities because of fear and prejudice—theirs and ours. Students bring a variety of physical, cognitive, emotional, sensory, and learning disabilities into the classroom; hidden and obvious, recognized and unrecognized. Few teachers in colleges have any didactic or significant prior exposure to disability. Unfortunately, even faculty educated to teach students with disabilities may lack experiential preparedness. As a result, disabled persons may feel misunderstood in educational settings and be negatively affected by teacher perceptions about disability. 

Viewing each student as a person begins with self-awareness of personal biases and assumptions about disability. Historically, our language and media images surrounding disability have evoked sympathy, pity, or horror. How do we view others? Do they have value and worth? Are they capable, equal, responsible for self, and able to make decisions? We see a person using a wheelchair and assume cognitive impairment in addition to physical disability. What do my perceptions and expectations mean for me as a teacher and for students, disabled or non-disabled? Our response to someone who moves, speaks, hears, sees, thinks or learns differently from the expected has powerful ramifications for that student's relationships with us and his/her peers.

 

Myths Surrounding People with Disabilities 

Physically disabled = mentally disabled
Wheelchair = hard of hearing, blind, or stupid
Learning disabled = ignorant or mentally disabled
People with disabilities want to be pitied
You can always tell if a person has a disability by looking at them
People with mental disabilities don't know when you make fun of them

While we attempt to create classroom environments that honor the diversity of all persons, we remain largely unaware of disability bias in language (Blaska, 1993). Stereotypical language promotes exclusion, devaluation, and notions of incompetence. "Cripple, handicapped, or confined to a wheelchair" convey negative images of disability. 

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Don't assume that you understand disability. You may never understand--unless you become disabled yourself. College students with disabilities have learned to compensate for differences; ask how you can work with them. One young adult described difficulties related to physical disability as "challenges" rather than as "burdens" (Treloar, 1998). 

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 Disability promotes thinking "outside the box." Do we allow students the freedom to use different methods to learn? Believe that the student can achieve the desired results, but recognize that the path in reaching the goal may vary;

 

Effective teachers must create learning environments that anticipate success and assist students to move toward this prize. This becomes increasingly important when students have cultural backgrounds or other differences which vary from the usual. 

Jenny, user of a motorized wheelchair, repeatedly received both direct and indirect messages that she would never become a teacher. Her teachers' reasons focused on her physical limitations: She could not physically quell an altercation by students, were it to arise. Because Jenny could not use her hands to develop audio-visual materials for classroom assignments, she instructed others to prepare the requisite materials. Her physical inability to directly accomplish these assignments promoted the concern that using others as her hands was "cheating." What does this imply about our attitudes toward reasonable accommodations?

Jenny, now a teacher, capitalizes on the limitations that drew concern of her teachers. Every student in her class is responsible for a task usually performed by the teacher. Each student's activity is essential for the whole: the teacher facilitates learning. 

The principal who hired Jenny took a risk: He saw beyond the body that uses a motorized wheelchair. He focused on the teacher as a person; he chose to see what "could be," rather than "what isn't." Shouldn't that be our perspective when a student with disabilities enters our class? 

 Treloar, L. L. (1998). Perceptions of Spiritual Beliefs, Response to Disability, and the Church. Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, The Union Institute, Cincinnati, OH.