People with Disabilities and Disposability

People with Disabilities and Disposability

The American society often sees people with disabilities or special needs as disposable. We can see this in jobs, family life, other day to day activities, and the way they talk about others with disabilities.

The CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) says that 22% of adults in the United Stated have some type of disability, this ranges from mobility to self-care. All people have a different idea of what disabilities are, but they are not all the same and each disability affects that person differently. As children grow up they are taught that people with a disability are bad or did something to be like they are. This is not always the case. An estimated 675 thousand United Stated Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been granted a disability.

Disabilities are defined as a physical or mental condition that limits a person’s movements, senses, or activities. This can be vision, movement, thinking, remembering, learning, communication, auditory, mental health, and social relationships. Disabilities are not always something a person can prevent. A person can be born with a disability, like Down syndrome, or a disability could develop throughout their life, like ADHD or diabetes.

Although there are many types of disabilities, not all are shown on the outside. Often people are not able to tell disabilities from looking at a person. This allows people to get to know a person before they label them as disposable. There are some disabilities that are shown when people look at them, like a missing limb. Yet, not all disabilities are shown. There are mental disabilities or other disabilities that can go as un-seen. This allows people to get to know each other without labeling them as disposable or un-needed. A person isn’t just a disability; they are a human being and often times when people talk before learning about a disability, they are more open minded.
Veterans fight for the United States Of America every day to keep us safe and sometimes are injured. Yet, when they come back, they do not get the care or help they need. Many veterans return home with PTSD or post traumatic stress syndrome, this can be caused by many things. This also happens in the country from things like car accidents. Carlos Huerta is an American Soldier with PTSD on army.mil he wrote an article about accepting his PTSD he said, “Even though I was home, I never left the battlefield. I brought the war home and it took a toll on me, my Family, wife and children.” He goes on to talk about not wanting to accept his disability because he was taught he was a solider, and because of that he could not be weak. He later says, “I felt that something important was stolen from me and there was nobody I could talk to about it. Nobody except the guys I was over there with.” (Huerta) People do not want to talk to them about what happened to them because they do not now what to do, instead they ignore them and let them ‘deal’ with it themselves.

Many people with disabilities have to do things to help them with their disability. On cdc.gov Dalila shared her story about having cerebral palsy. She talks about having to do stretches and other activities to help her. She describes not wanting, and not feeling comfortable doing them. She says that her brother helped her with this by encouraging her and helping her with them. At the end she says talks about how her family member can help a person with cerebral palsy she then says, “…I also suggest they do what my brother did for me: simply be there in any way they can.” She need her brother to help her. Yet, many other people do not have this opportunity, so they have to live with their disability by themselves.

Although a person with disability gets labeled as disposable it is not just them, their families are also told they are disposable. On cdc.gov Sonja wrote about her brother Mark and how he grew up in the 1960s with Down syndrome she says, “At first only segregated classes for the “mentally retarded” (a term now considered to be offensive) were offered – and kids were divided into classes based on whether they were labeled as “educable” or “trainable” (also now obsolete terms).” With this she helps explains how people with disabilities have been so mistreated. She also says that when he was born the doctor told them to “institutionalize him” that it was best for their family. However their parents ignored it and found and a new doctor back home.

Finally, many people have been labeled as disposable because of who they are. Many people can not even help the fact that they have a disability, and they can not do anything to help them. Veterans also do not get the help they need, when they return how they do not get the help they should because they are taught that they are supposed to be strong. This makes them think that they should not get the medical attention they should. A person with disabilities are not the only ones who are told they are disposable their families are told that their family members are disposable too.

 

Worked Cited

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Bethell, Christina, et al. “Optimizing Health and Health Care Systems for Children with Special Health Care Needs Using the Life Course Perspective.” Maternal & Child Health Journal, vol. 18, no. 2, Feb. 2014, pp. 467-477. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/ s10995-013-1371-1.
Craig, Benjamin, et al. “Prevalence and Losses in Quality-Adjusted Life Years of Child Health Conditions: A Burden of Disease Analysis.” Maternal & Child Health Journal, vol. 20, no. 4, Apr. 2016, pp. 862-869. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s10995-015-1874-z.
“Cerebral Palsy (CP).” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2 May 2016, www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/cp/stories.html.
“Birth Defects.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 16 May 2017, www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/birthdefects/stories/ downsyndrome.html.
Huerta, Chaplain (Maj.) Carlos C. “Leaving the battlefield: Soldier shares story of PTSD.” Www.army.mil, 25 Apr. 2012, www.army.mil/article/78562/ leaving_the_battlefield_soldier_shares_story_of_ptsd.