Invisible or on a pedestal?

Every young adult at one time or another is hit hard with reality. “Oh, this what the real word is like.” I believe my early twenties where painfully enlightening somewhat due to the pedestal people had put me on since the day I was born. In my twenties, all of a sudden, this pedestal became shaky and crumbled. Reality hit me extra hard.

While I understand why the pedestal existed, it had an adverse effect. The so-called professionals raved about my smarts. They told my parents that I could achieve anything. For a short time I was given the support to shoot for my dreams, so understandably I got a big ego. I was told and shown I could do anything. Soon I forgot I was disabled. Maybe I also tricked myself into thinking I wasn’t disabled in order to fit in better with my non-disabled classmates. Whatever the case when I grew up, the real world wasted no time letting me know I was disabled.

I didn’t notice this all as an adult, but everybody seemed to personally know me. Every teacher and every child in my school knew of me and knew my name. When I was motoring down the hallway in my first power chair, every kid i passed would wave and say, “ Hi.” There I was, on the Elementary School pedestal. I was the one mainstream kid in a chair, so of course they would know of me.

When I wasn’t in the power chair I was in my oversized stroller. I remember being aware that when a few years went by, the stroller (with me in it) wouldn’t be cute anymore. When I grew too large for the stroller people would really KNOW I was disabled for sure. Yikes.

This novelty of a cute kid with a disability got all sorts of attention but at a cost too. It pumped up the pedestal so high that it was a hell of a fall off of it in my early twenties.
I’m glad I wasn’t ignored as a kid but I’m trying to convey what it was like when I met the real word.

After twenty years of being on that bright comfy pedestal in a blink of in eye I was invisible. Sure all kids experience a version of that going out on their own. But do they ever feel totally invisible? I sure did. There were no more big happy entrances, no more automatic special accommodations, no more special anything. I didn’t ever expect things to be handed over easy; though you have to imagine this was a rude awakening for me. “Hello world!’ The world slams the door in my face. The pedestal is gone.

Secondly, because I had been raved about in school, I thought I was super smart. Also it seems when people do finally see past my disability and can tell I have a lick of sense, they get all excited about it. “ Oh, she IS smart,” they say. After years of receiving that reaction, I began to think I was some sort of genius. The pedestal strikes again! Truth is I’m just an average Jane. (Knowledge wise, because there’s nothing else average about me!)

These days, the pedestal is pretty much nonexistent, but it does reappear from time to time. For the most part I’m glad it’s gone because it did no favors for my self image. All it caused was confusion. One moment I was on the pedestal, next moment I was invisible.

Instead of telling children and children with disabilties that they are special, tell them they're different and it’s ok to be different. There is room in the world for different.



P.S. This blog was somewhat inspired after I saw Gavin Rossdale live. http://www.ivykennedy.com/concerts/gavin.htm


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Articles:
We're Not Here for Your Inspiration

We expected better from Oscar Pistorius because he’s disabled. We were wrong.

The Best Compliment Is No Compliment at All



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3.3.13


It's all or nothing. No happy medium. No true inclusion. Either you're in the spotlight or ignored.

When a video or picture of a person/kid with a disability becomes popular….

Parents are tricky when it comes to this subject. I think it's fine to be proud of our kid with a disability. when a picture or video gets out in cyberspace there's no telling how it's going to be used and how it's going to be perceived. So maybe it goes from a proud parent to some token kid with a disability being objectified. Not good.

When a video or picture of a person/kid with a disability becomes popular, and is everywhere it really bugs me. I can't explain why in one sentence.
One reason may be why is because people with disabilities still are so segregated and not seen (literally) and kids with disabilities still are fighting tooth and nail to be educated ..... then to see the same pic/vid pop up in my face again and again, and even if it's celebrating a good moment, the fact that it's so popular, is the public forgetting what barriers that person faces or just do they not know because all they are seeing is this ONE moment?
I'd hate the best moment of that persons life be that video or picture. "Oh wow, this is totally awesome. Look how many views I got!"

Have you ever heard of "inspiration porn"? It's stories/blogs/video about people with disabilities that the general public goes bezirk for. They eat it up, and want more, more, more. The media feeds it too. That token person with a disability, doing something totally ordinary that gives the public warm and fuzzies.

I think in a small way feeding frenzies like these only segregates people with disabilities even more. Points us out from the herd, put us on a pedestal that very uncomfortable.
Yes, I think in the long run the outcome of this type thing is negative.

Let's celebrate everybody's accomplishments, not just focus on the person that is "overcoming". Because disability is natural, there is no overcoming, there's only living with it. Not achieving in spite of disability, but BECAUSE of it.




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Employment and Disability

I feel a little silly writing about this subject. A line I heard at my few job interviews, applies to this. ‘I have little to no experience.’ I have no degree. I’ve only had a short internship which was many moons ago, yet I’m writing this blog.

There’re many factors that contribute to the continually low disability employment rate. I will list a few of them. This is my opinion. I may be wrong, I may be right. That’s what a blog is, an opinion.


Lack of access to higher education for people with disabilities

Some people with disabilities may need an aide to write etc for them in class. When I was in K-12 the public school system provided an aide. When I graduated, I had to find my own aides while programs like the VR Pas and the CD Pas paid them via the state. Hiring and keeping an aide even for home care is difficult. I can’t imagine managing an aide for college.
Click Here to read my experiences with personal aides.

Sure, you can earn degrees online. But if I were an employer I wouldn’t want to hire a person coming off as a recluse that has had no interaction with people and no set schedules.
Vocational schools for people with disabilities should offer degrees.
I went to one of these schools that provided me housing and personal care but all I earned for my drafting class was a certificate. This was a state run facility, so that somewhat explains it.
How about offering to the students that can and do want to go to college, work out a tuition program? Students can be housed there and receive the care they need, plus earn a college degree by either hiring accredited teachers onsite, or providing transportation to a nearby college. Vocational schools for people with disabilities may be already doing this I’m not sure.


Acceptance in the workplace

I’m going to make a bold assumption here: Most people are uncomfortable around people with disabilities. It’s one thing to have access to the outside world via the ADA, it’s a completely different thing to be chosen to come into a company to get a job done.

The invisible barriers of awkwardness towards people with disabilities need to come down. Now there’s an interview policy that prevents an interviewer to ask about a disability. Questions can only be asked that verify if the job can be executed in relation to a persons disability. You cannot ask questions about the disability outside of the needs of the job. While I understand that focuses the attention on the job itself and off the disability, I can’t help but wonder if that’s not enough to relieve the awkward feeling.

DRS (Dept of Rehabilitative Services) was in charge of my time in the vocational school and finding me job interviews. They also helped me find funding for Assistive Technology to use on computers. They did a great job until it was time to help find me a job. A few things stand out to me as I look back on it.
It was silly to be promoting somebody without a degree. They saw how smart I was, why not help me go to college to get that degree? When I say help, I mean point me in the right direction of other resources that can help. I don’t mean I expected them to do it for me.
I feel DRS wasted a lot of time job-hunting on my behalf. It was clear employers were less than thrilled when they heard about me. That being said, I think a large division of DRS should focus on Disability Awareness Training for businesses. DRS could come up with a workshop that alleviates the awkwardness the abled-bodied community has towards the disabled community. Knowledge is the antidote to fear of the unknown. I also believe Disabled History and Rights should be taught in schools so future generations can be more open-minded about hiring people with disabilities.


Getting the job done

I feel I’m the same as everybody else and should be given a fair chance. At the same time, I also know I am different. I may do things different than others, and I may take more time than others.
So is it really fair for employers to bend their expectations for me? No. Time is money, money is time.
But if I can do the job on time, then what is the fuss?
I believe employers have a hard time seeing pass people with disabilities transportation schedule, modified workplace, attendants, etc to gauge how well the job will get done. I don’t blame them, it’s a huge leap of faith on their part.
Businesses and for the most part people like their routine. Any change or disruption causes anxiety. Some people with disabilities need modified workplaces, modified work schedules, etc. At worse, some employers must feel hiring a person with a disability detrimental to the health of their company. A glitch in a well oiled machine.
Flexibility goes a long way with hiring people with disabilities. Often I would guess, these so-called glitches would work themselves out in a short period of time. Still the fear of the unknown is there for the employer on the interview.


Actively finding work for people with disabilities

Certainty everybody with a disability can contribute. But why are the Disabled Community continually held to the same standards as the abled-bodied population, when they’re different? Can an employee with a disability accomplish the same job as an abled-bodied employee? The answer is yes at times, but other times it’s no. So why can’t jobs be created for only people with disabilities? I suppose that is very similar to Affirmative Action, which has its good points and bad.

Why can’t the government take a more active role in the high disability unemployment rate? There’re people with disabilities that are using the government’s money to survive who would rather be working. So I would think the government would want to step in more forcibly to save money and see that businesses hire people with disabilities. Wouldn’t tax payers pay less if more people with disabilities worked?

Some hear that and think ‘oh no, a government takeover!’ I do agree the government is overwhelmed as it is and doesn’t need more burdens. I also believe, the high disability unemployment rate is very similar to the 60’s when government stepped in to see that African Americans were ingratiated into public schools. Do you still see the military escorting African American kids to school? No. Very quickly the public schools in the south caught on and obeyed the law.


I don’t like to end my blog like that, because I know some people will see the word ‘government’ and freak out.
The disability employment rate has never risen...as far as I know...so I ask people what ideas do they have?


Click Here to read more of my views on this topic. I've also posted useful employment links there.

Other factors that contribute to the disability unemployment rate are explored in a report by the UCP: The State of Disability in America (pg.36) HERE