Our class has been involved in the effort to help get people off of the Waiting List. A month or so ago I was asked to reflect on my knowledge of people with disabilities. After this first reflection, and a visit from two people who were mothers of disabled children as well as leaders on the end the wait now campaign, I was asked to reflect again...(only a glimmer of how my knowledge and care for these families and individuals would develop and deepen even further...)
"My mind has definitely been given something to ponder. It was very beneficial to actually hear these speakers talk about their reality and their perspective on everything. (I can’t believe the one has been on the Waiting List for ten years.) You don’t often get the chance to hear their side, because it can be a touchy subject and is a cultural taboo to bring up. People worry they might offend someone, but I think that is why people are so ignorant. When people don’t talk about these subjects, others can stay in the dark, and maintain their own skewed perceptions and false fantasies.
Through the speaker’s dialogue, my idea that people with developmental disabilities are really just like you and me, with their own set of hardships, was really reinforced into my mind. The speakers really breathed life into that point for me with their candidness, honesty, emotions, and examples. I feel like they just scratched the surface of their personal stories and that so much more could have been said, which would have been even more beneficial to hear for our understanding of people with developmental disabilities.
I mentioned in my first reflection that I only know and have an understanding of developmental disabilities from what I see in passing, from movies, and from textbooks. I was very grateful to get a new perspective, an honest, informative, and true one, the best kind and the most accurate. Through these speakers I learned that these people really are people, “real people,” and that they really do have a life of their own, and that they really do need urgent help. My one wish to my speakers is that they would have gone more in depth with their stories, as I said above, as well as explained the definitions of these labels further. I still have so much I don’t know. What specific hardships do people with disabilities face? What is an ordinary day like for them? What exactly is, for example, Down syndrome; and what does that mean for the family and for the person who has it? How has their life been different in comparison to others or that of their sibling’s? I know some of these questions were touched upon during the discussion, but I feel like there is so much more to be said. I am glad they talked a lot about the Waiting List Campaign, but I also wish I could have heard more of the story behind the campaign, the people and families who this is really all about; by knowing them I feel we might have a stronger case when we try to advocate on thier behalf in whatever we do. We would then have the outside and partial inside understanding.
In reference to the Waiting List Campaign itself and what they talked about, I thought it was helpful, but I also wish I could know more, especially since my knowledge and experience of politics and government is miniscule. A lot of the terms and people I heard being talked about were those I had no significant or prior knowledge of. Being an out of state resident will definitely adds a challenge to advocate for families as well.
It is hard to say why these families are still on the Waiting List. What I suppose is that Maryland has come to learn to ignore these families, and live with them as just a “pebble in their shoe.” I believe that with a determined attitude we can win this fight. We just have to be strong and persistent. I am excited for the task. I am excited to do my part. It makes me feel like I can make a difference, and that my skills and work in a classroom can really be put to good use."
--Ashley L.
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