All We Want is Opportunity: We are Not Asking for Special Treatment

It's funny how to blog ideas come into my head. For those of you who have been following the blog, you will notice that I haven't written in a while. Sometimes, as a writer, you find that there are words inside you that you cannot even know needed to be put to paper until a series of events occur. For me, this blog came about because of three things: A conversation with my friend Josh, who is about to graduate, on how difficult growing up and preparing for the real world is, the fact that I just applied for my first "big boy" internship/ job and finally an article on Autism. One may ask, what do these three things have in common? By the end of reading this, hopefully, this will be clear.

         As a person with a disability, there are always obstacles in front of you, whether your disability is hidden or visible. Some of these obstacles are bigger than others; some relate to social situations, while some relate to other aspects of life. That being said, no matter what one's disability is, I believe that we all encounter tremendous obstacles in the job market. Currently, in the U.S, according to Disabledinaction.org, there are approximately 51.2 million Americans that have some level of disability. Also, according to this website, 32.5 million Americans have a severe disability. If we subtract the number of children, which is 4 million ages 6-14, we can safely estimate that 47.2 million disabled Americans can feasibly work. I know that this seems like a lot of statistics and that I am evaluating here, but if we note an approximate unemployment rate of 13.7% according to Disabled World that equals 6.6 million people with disabilities who are unemployed. This does not seem like a large number, but it is double the unemployment rate compared to the general population. The question must be raised, what is the cause of this?

         Although I am young and have little experience in the workforce, when someone tells me that people with disabilities at 13.7% are twice as likely as non-disabled people to be unemployed, something is alarming. The non-disabled rate of unemployment is 6.7% of the able-bodied population. This is according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. What causes the discrepancy? Is it because people with disabilities are not qualified? Do they not have the higher education necessary to succeed? The answer is that they do, but it is societal barriers and perceptions that have caused this significant gap in unemployment. 

         As a disabled population, we have benefited from legislation such as the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and IDEA (Indivuals with Disabilities Education Act), whose latest manifestation was 2004. However, these pieces of legislation can only go so far. If people are unwilling to look past the disability, whether it be intellectual, physical, or otherwise, all parties involved will suffer. There is hope, however.

         One company, in particular, is focusing on a specific segment of the disabled population.  SAP, an international computer and technology company, leads the way in something that should have already been a long time coming. SAP recognizes that people with disabilities have unique gifts. To quote the article, they do not see hiring people with disabilities as "charitable outreach" but rather as a "smart business decision."  SAP is explicitly focusing on individuals with Autism and Aspergers, as they, for the most part, have greater attention to detail than others. The company is not cutting corners when they hire individuals with Autism. The individuals undergo a rigorous screening process to see if they fit in with the company and community. Autistic employees must have the same level of higher education as all other employees, so no special favors are given.        

         This company's unique approach got me thinking. While I am encouraged that this company is taking a significant step to improve people's lives with disabilities, it also saddens me that it has taken for this to happen.  I have been a victim of the negative view of disabilities in employment and pursuit of advancement. Although they are a terrific institution in general, the school from I received my master's degree in education did not see my disability as a positive when it came to student teaching. Instead, they focused on the negative and all parties involved suffered. I was able to complete my master's degree but did not gain the necessary experience to the student; therefore, I am still unemployable.

         It is clear that having a disability, no matter what it is, is an obstacle that a person has to overcome. The workforce may often be a challenge for people with disabilities. Still, because of companies like SAP and their unique view on autistic employees, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to disabilities and employment. SAP is leading the way and breaking down barriers when it comes to working. Other organizations and institutions should use SAP as a clear example when addressing individuals with disabilities. Just because we are different in one way or another does not mean we are less capable. We are only less capable if not allowed to prove ourselves as individuals.

         Recently, I have applied to my first "big boy" job with an online newspaper, and they are in the process of reviewing my resume and qualifications. At no point in time did this company look down on my disability as a negative. In fact, in some aspects, they have indicated that it may be optimistic. It is unclear whether I will get the job, but that is not my point for mentioning it. If disabled people are given opportunities to prove themselves just like everyone else, it is amazing what society will find, and what resources they will tap into. 

Footnotes

1. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

2. http://www.disabledinaction.org/census_stats.html

3. http://www.disabled-world.com/disability/statistics/twice.php

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?

The Protection Complex

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 school and realize that there are teachable moments every day in 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?

Lets Get Intimate

CONTENT WARNING! READER DISCRETION STRONGLY ADVISED.

So something is bugging me. I’ve been watching a lot of political television lately, and a lot of the conversation has been about how my generation does not know how to communicate because of their reliance on technology. This is an interesting topic, but it also got me thinking about other issues and the way my generation views them.

As someone in his late twenties, I find myself every once in awhile craving stability and a family. I feel this is a natural thought process for anybody who is on the other side of 25. The only difference with me is that I am disabled. Disability and intimacy don’t usually go together. Perhaps that is why I feel the need to write this blog.

I’ve written a lot about funny stuff, serious stuff, but never an issue that affects me so deeply. What I am about to say may come off as controversial or different, so if you choose not to read further I understand. Understand however that if you do read further, you are going to hear some things you are not used to.

In other blogs, I have written that disability is seen as strange because it is different. The relationship arena and specifically the sexual arena are no different for people with disabilities. Most people have a preconceived notion of what beauty is. Most often it is someone skinny, fit, athletic, very rarely do people with disabilities come into the attractive conversation. When people with disabilities present themselves as dressed to the nines, people don’t take it, as they should. They are taken aback that “these people” even care about their appearance. However physical appearance is not the only problem that disabled people face in the relationship and sexual arena. Some disabled people yes indeed cannot help their appearance because of certain deformities, so they are already at a disadvantage. These deformities aside, there are much more fundamental barriers that disabled people face in these two areas. 

Before I go into these issues and my opinions on them, please watch the following video on disability uncensored. It is a great documentary that is about fifteen minutes long. It will better provide a background for the rest of this blog. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA020ShNQr8

Although the documentary has a more cavalier attitude about sex than I do, it brings up a good point. Disabled people, myself included are often seen as not having intimate feelings and desires. I cannot count the number of times that I have been out with somebody on an actual date and I get one of the following reactions from people. They ask either, “are you two related?” or “is she working for you?” In the documentary I cited, an interesting point is brought up. When people desexualize people with disabilities it is almost yet another way to treat us as second-class citizens. I am not saying that I go out and sleep with anybody, but I have desires just like anybody else.

There is an even greater problem though, and people with disabilities themselves often perpetuate the problem. If by chance someone with a severe disability happens to find someone who would consider dating him or her, it often never happens. Why is this? I’m only 27 and have not lived life all the way through yet, however with what I have seen I have come to this conclusion. It often never happens because of a fundamental belief on the part of both parties that the boyfriend or girlfriend would have to take care of the disabled person. Who wants that? Nobody wants to be a caregiver; they want a partner, someone they can confide in and lean on, and someone who can care for them. Disabled people are not often seen as being capable of doing this because they are seen as helpless.  We are not. We are capable of many things, but we shoot ourselves in the foot more often than not.

As I said in my the last blog, disabled people set the bar so low for themselves that they allow themselves to be viewed as helpless. Sometimes they even believe this themselves. As this blog has tried to advocate in the past, we are only as helpless as we make ourselves. This holds true in the sexual and relationship arena as well. If we go into it believing that we're going to have a caregiver who also feels for us in an intimate way, we are setting ourselves up for failure. Able-bodied people need to realize something as well. A relationship is not all about the physical. It is about communication. To be blunt intimacy is not often always about penis and vagina intercourse but can be as simple as human touch or as complex as lovemaking. It is all dependent on the couple. One thing that has to change is the lack of communication in relationships, and this I fear is why disabled people have such a hard time nowadays.

Now a day everything is about instant gratification. You cant go five minutes without seeing someone on their phone or updating their Facebook status. For a successful relationship we need to get back to the basics of love. No maybe we don’t need to go to Texas, but we need to get back to the basics of human interaction. Most importantly however, we need to stop selling relationships as a one size fits all thing. People need to understand that judging someone based on their obstacles only causes you to lose out on something great. 

Mental Health and Disability Part Two: Where Society Needs to Catch Up

Late last year, I brought up an issue that was not discussed very much in the disability community, disability and mental health. As I thought about this blog, I remembered a recent email that I got, and it inspired me to revisit the issue. In the email was a story about how colleges are flunking mental health treatment.

            The article described a young boy, Dan, who had mental health issues and made a wrong choice one night in an attempt to overdose. To summarize, he did not overdose. He was having trouble dealing with a new medication, and once his medicine was adjusted, he was fine. However, his college did not treat him appropriately.

            His health center referred him to a hospital, which they should have done, but the administration's actions were incorrect.  Instead of recognizing a student in trouble, they treated Dan as if he was a criminal.

            My previous blog on mental health dealt with how society doesn't view depression correctly. This latest article in News Week confirms what I had written. Depression is still such a stigma that it is almost a dirty word even in higher education. What does this have to do with disability? It has everything to do with it. Depression and disability in general in our society is seen as something dirty. When it is said that someone is depressed or disabled, they are seen as unclean or unworthy. It is a shame that places of higher education are perpetuating this stereotype. I can speak from personal experience when I say that even higher education places view depression as a dirty word. Not only did they kick Dan out of his school involuntarily, but also they did a similar thing to me.

            It is said that the American land of immigrants is so afraid of difference. We will not be able to progress as a society if we do not understand that differences are fundamental to the growth, and not everyone is given the same skillset. Some of us must deal with obstacles that sometimes overwhelm us. We should not criminalize those who have depression or other mental health afflictions; instead, we should strive to ease their pain.

This will not happen if we do not admit that depression is not necessarily a bad thing. Depression, instead in most cases, is our body's' way of telling us to reexamine what is going on around us. I know most of society doesn't view depression the way I do, but regardless of whether you agree with me or not, you have to agree that society needs to be more accepting of mental health issues. If places of higher education are so educated, why can't they lead mental illness acceptance? The answer is simple.

Places of higher education are scared of mental illness for the same reason society is scared of mental illness. They are afraid that if we embrace mental illness for what it is, it is an admission that the human consciousness is not as self-reliant as society thinks it is. We need to accept that it is a part of the human condition to ask for help. It is a part of our condition to be reliant on others. Keeping up with the Jones's individualist type mentality that we currently live in, it is taboo to admit that you go against the grain and do not subscribe to the emotionalist culture we live in.

Colleges could be on the front lines of helping those who are depressed, but instead, they sit at the back of the class. It is time for a societal-wide change in disability and depression, and change can happen if it starts now.