The Move

       It has almost been a year since The Voiceless Minority started. At that time, we have published nearly 50 blogs here on the blogger website. 
       As the New Year begins for The Voiceless Minority, it is time that we make a move. We are moving our web address and hosting over to word press. The new address will be: http://thevoicelessminority.wordpress.com/
       Nothing about the blog will change content-wise; the only thing that will change is the look and the usability of the blog. There will be an archive section for those of you who haven’t got a chance to read all the old blogs on the blogger website. There will also be a contact page and a discussion page so that those in the community or those interested can interact with one another. Please post resources or questions you may have! 
       Finally, we hope that this move will allow the Voiceless Minority to connect with those who read it easily. Apart from my traditional blog posts with our new host, we will also post things and videos. We will experiment with video podcasts with me, Jason Hahr, so you get to know the writer behind the Voiceless Minority. 
       I want to say a quick thank you to those who helped me at blogger and those who helped me design the blogger webpage. I am grateful for your year of service and help, and I hope that the next year will be just as successful as the previous one. Thanks! -Jay

We Are Athletes Too

This past February marked an event in sports that brought the world together. There are very few of these. Even though sports is a universal activity in almost every country, only two events tend to get the world together and stop the fighting; they are The World Cup in soccer and The Winter and Summer Olympics. Every four years or so, these events take center stage, and everybody forgets about the drama going on in the world for a couple of weeks, but there is an event that also occurs every four years that many people are not aware of.  

Every four years at the same site as either the Summer or Winter Olympics, there is another sporting event. It is known as the Paralympics. It is not only sad that the rest of the country does not keep up with such Paralympics activities such as hockey in the winter and basketball in the summer, but it is also sad that the United States is the worlds leading supporter of disability rights but has very little support for its disabled athletes.

This time the Paralympics are in Sochi as were the Winter Olympics. For the first time this year, the NBC family of networks presents an unprecedented 54 hours of coverage of the Paralympics. While the “able-bodied” Olympics drew a record audience in February, the Paralympics are living up to low expectations and not drawing nearly as much of an audience. In the United States or worldwide, credit must be given to other nations as their margin of support is much greater than that of the United States. This is sad for me because I recently graduated from a school that promotes disabled individuals; they even promote a small contingent of disabled sports. So I guess it hits me more challenging than most who will read this, but I must raise a question.  If we are the world’s leader on disability rights, and we do not even support disabled athletes, what does that say about our treatment of disability in this country at all? Just some food for thought. We are not our disabilities, but we are people and athletes just like everyone else.

The Paralympics close on Sunday, and we will have to wait four years for the cycle to repeat itself as far as winter sports are concerned. However, in 2016, the Paralympics summer games will be held. It is my hope by then that disabled sports are brought into the 21^st century and given the respect and support they deserve, but I doubt that will happen.

 

For further reading or information, please visit http://www.teamusa.org/

Teachable Moments, We can be Teachers Too

What does it mean to teach? In simple basic terms, according to the dictionary, it is a verb. It means to impart knowledge of or skill in; give instruction in, and impart knowledge or skill to; instruct to. We all understand the basic definition of teaching. The question is, how do we define teachable moments or teachers themselves?

I recently graduated with a Master's in education. Still, my institution told me that I could not get a teacher's certification, according to Pennsylvania, because I was too disabled to teach. At first, this statement, to put it nicely, perplexed me. What did it mean I was also disabled to teach? How could they judge me without allowing me to try? As time has gone by, I have begun to understand their position. I disagree with it, but I understand it now.

They look at disabled people in a traditional box. Due to my physical limitations, they could not look past my lack of physical capability and see the great deal of knowledge that I can pass on to others. They were afraid to go to bat for someone so different, even if they had great knowledge to pass on. I've also changed my perception of what a teacher is in general. Yes, a great deal of teaching occurs in the classroom, and eventually, that is something I want to do. However, I have learned that disabled teachers can exist, and often they have greater mobility than traditional teachers.

Until society and those in higher education stop putting disabled people in a box, we need to take ourselves out of that box. For the time being, we might not b able to be traditional classroom teachers, but every disabled person has a story to tell and lessons they can teach those around them. Often the most powerful learning occurs outside the classroom, not in it.  Disabled people in general and society need to expand their definitions of a classroom and realize that there are teachable moments every day in the life. You can teach your aides, and they can teach you. You can lead a stranger on the street and change their life forever. To do so, there are a few necessary components, none of which involve the traditional four walls of a schoolhouse.

To be an effective teacher with a disability, one needs first to understand themselves and their limitations. Second, they need to view events in their lives as having a purpose, even the small and bad ones. Third, they need to find their outlet. Mine happens to be writing at this point; others might find their outlet in other ways. However, one finds their outlet; it is essential to develop it. Finally, for disabled people to be effective teachers, we need to not give in to what society says it has mandated for us. If we develop our voice and tell our story and it touches one person, we have been influential teachers.

Traditional classroom teachers and teachers who teach online are often knowledgeable about content. With the way teaching is now, they have minimal opportunity to bring their experience into the classroom. It is those teachers that do so that turn into great teaches. Disabled people have a leg up on the second crucial teaching element that great classroom teachers excel at. While some of us, hopefully, myself included, will eventually be a classroom teacher, disabled people must look for unique teaching opportunities until society realizes that we can be teachers in the traditional sense just like everyone else. These traditional opportunities may include writing a blog like this one, teaching a class online, or just having a conversation with someone who asks a question about disability. Whichever way you choose to be a teacher, it is clear that we need more disabled teachers in this world because there is so much we learn daily from one another. Why not be a part of that conversation if you have a disability?