I don't mean to be racist, but...

This entry is going to be half blog half rant. 

Today we mainly discussed and contrasted the stories of two individuals.  “Ashley” from the Ashley Treatment (google search Ashley Treatment) and Rick Hoyt of “Team Hoyt” (again, a google search on this will turn up many stories).  If you are unfamiliar with either of these stories I urge you to read/watch them. 

As well an interesting point of view brought up during the lecture was the social model of viewing disabilities where the “disability is situated it society’s failure to adapt to the needs of its citizens”.  I think this is an important distinction that has to be made and more widely thought of.  Individuals with disabilities are only “disabled” by the fact they do not somehow function within societal norms.  As to what these norms are, is completely constructed by the world around them.  For example, if the entire country was deaf, we would have much more efficient methods of visual communication.  But since most people are not deaf, it is not a priority to develop such a system. 

So here is where my rant comes in.  When we had this discussion in lecture, specifically while contrasting the two stories of individuals with MID and their families, it seemed the “societal model” of viewing the stories went right out the window.  Almost every person that raised their hand started with something along the lines of “I don’t want to judge, but…” and then proceeded to judge the parents of Ashley while applauding the work of the Hoyt family.  To me, this is very similar to people who say “I don’t mean to be racist, but…” and then make racist comments. 

First off, the discussion we ended up having was ridiculous and unproductive.  The path we went down was not of a constructive evaluation on societal pressures both families have with children with intellectual disorders, rather one where parents were either right or wrong for their decision.  As someone who is an able-bodied white, straight, male, the amount of ways society disables me is quite minimal.  Most the people in the class are very similar, so our ability to relate to these parents or children and pass some form of judgment is laughable. 

More importantly however, is how quickly we were able to completely forget the societal model of viewing disability in favour of giving our own opinion and the individual model of disabilities.  It’s scary that in an hour of being presented with that information it was disregarded, when this is the model we should be keeping in mind in our classrooms and schools for the rest of our lives.  The best way we can help students with MID’s in our classes is by asking what can the school board do for this student?  What can the class do for this student?  What can I do for this student?  And the more we view news stories and other ideas with the societal model the easier it can be to do the same in our classrooms.  Ultimately this will be the best for our kids.